While Tuesday’s midterm elections will significantly remake the power dynamic in the next Congress, the American Bankers Association’s advocacy work remains business as usual, according to President and CEO Rob Nichols.
Addressing ABA’s 47th Agricultural Bankers Conference today, Nichols told the crowd in Minneapolis that while the results of the elections were “historic” and the roster of lawmakers and the power in Congressional committees will soon change, the issues ABA pursues on behalf of its members will not.
“The tactics we use next year may change under a divided government versus one-party control — different ways to surface, advance and move our issues,” he said. “But the issue-set didn’t change at all. And we remain laser-focused on ag and rural banking issues.”
In the near term, he promised that ABA would do three things.
“First, our policy team is going to dissect all of the results over the coming days and weeks to tell you what it means exactly for our industry going forward,” he said. “Two, we’re going to continue to work with both parties to advance the issues that you all care about. Three, we’ll continue to talk about the important role banks play in the ag and farm economy to create jobs and growth.”
Nichols reminded attendees that the banking sector “historically has done well” under a divided government and that ABA is “militantly bipartisan, always has been and will continue to be.” He added that ABA will hold a webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. ET, during which the association’s policy experts will discuss election results, what the makeup of new Congress will look like, what it means for banks, and “where we’re going to be on offense and where we’ll be on defense.”
Nichols was joined on the dais by Cathy Owen, ABA’s newly elected chair. It was Owen’s first public appearance as chair since being elected during ABA’s annual convention at the end of October. Owen, who is chair and CEO of State Holding Company and executive chair of Eagle Bank & Trust Company in Little Rock, Arkansas, shared her story of 50 years in banking but also her personal connection to the agricultural sector. For five generations, her family has owned a 2,000-acre farm in southeast Arkansas.
“About 1,000 acres of it are farmed — two thirds rice, a third soy. Next year, it’ll probably only be a third rice; rice is really struggling,” she said, adding that the family leases the 1,000 acres to a farmer in his third generation of farming. The other 1,000 acres are made up of a reservoir and land set aside for moisture retention.
“There’s nothing better than being out in the country. Cell phones don’t generally work unless you stand on one leg out in front of the barn,” she said. “It has been, I think, a very integral part of my family staying together and enjoying each other into this fifth generation. There’s something special about being on a farm and watching the sun come up in the morning and set in the evening. It’s so peaceful. It’s like everything relaxes as soon as I turn down that gravel road.”
As ABA chair, Owen said she plans to continue to build upon the progress that ABA has made during the past year, ensuring that “banks of all sizes, charter types and business models, continue to be strong and have access to the processes and innovations they need to serve the people, businesses and communities that they operate in.”
She highlighted fraud prevention has a key area of interest as well as creating “clear and durable rules around digital assets that protect our customers, as well as maintaining financial stability within our industry.” Innovation in banking is also critical, she noted, but urged caution around agentic artificial intelligence so that it “doesn’t undermine our banking industry and fail to protect our customers.”
