Page 267 - BWM March 2013

March 2013 | Business World Magazine | 267
mined they would have to band together in
order to effect change. They established an
association that was known then as the Inde-
pendent Bankers of America, and though it
took them two years to garner the required
support, they were ultimately successful
in Minnesota’s passage of new regulations
that effectively put an end to the schemes of
Northwest Bank Organization (the forerun-
ner of an institution known today as Wells
Fargo Bank.)
The association of independent bankers
gathered steam over the next few years draw-
ing support and want of participation by
community banks throughout the country,
and as that initiative expanded, it resulted
in what is known today as the Independent
Community Bankers of America (ICBA).
Headquartered in Washington D.C., the
ICBA is one of the largest trade organiza-
tions in America. The ICBA is comprised
by more than 5000 community bank mem-
bers, 45 state affiliated branches, and a staff
of more than 200 tasked with duties that in-
clude the planning of meetings, educational
initiatives, publications production, indus-
try advocacy and issues pertinent to public
policy. And as much as this organization was
“Community banks are built on
trust, having a symbiotic relationship
between the bank and customer... and
those relationships have helped build
towns, communities and the economic
growth of rural areas of our nation”
– Camden Fine.