In a video interview with the Financial Times, incoming ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols spoke about the importance of the banking industry adapting to serve and recruit millennials as customers and employees. The millennial generation — commonly defined as those between the ages of 18 and 34 — includes 84 million Americans, Nichols said, “some of whom are wary of banks or think they don’t need a bank. We need to show them that having a relationship with a bank is important.”
He also said that one of his goals is for banking to become a top-choice profession for young people entering the workforce. “I want to make banking cool again,” he said.
In the video, Nichols also discussed the need for regulatory relief this year and the long-term priority of navigating the regulatory and technological landscape of financial services innovation.