ABIA to Merge with ABA, Convert to Council Structure

The American Bankers Insurance Association — an American Bankers Association affiliate — has voted to fully integrate with ABA, converting the ABIA board and membership into an ABA council and committees. The action comes one year after ABIA quadrupled its membership by making it available as an ABA member benefit, proving that banks continue to want and need resources to help them grow their insurance business. The transition is effective today, Sept. 1.

“ABIA’s affiliation with ABA has provided synergies and savings, while also helping ABA serve an important segment of its membership,” said Deanne Marino, executive director of ABIA. “Now it’s become clear that those synergies, savings and benefits would be even greater if the two associations were one.”

Under the new structure, ABIA’s compliance and other educational and informational resources will be integrated into ABA’s suite of services. In addition, current industry provider members of ABIA will be transitioned over to the ABA Service Member program. With the integration, ABA launched a new email bulletin, Newsbytes: Banks in Insurance, that spotlights policy news, industry trends, and ABA resources related to bank distribution of insurance products. Bankers can also keep up with the latest bank insurance industry news, training and key issues on at aba.com/bankinsurance. For more information, contact ABA’s Deanne Marino.