PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE As Amanda and I enjoyed ringing in the new year with a group of close friends, I spent a few minutes thinking about the importance of using New Year’s Eve to celebrate the past year (in most cases) and to look ahead to the coming year with optimism. Too often in today’s technology-driven world, we do not spend enough time simply celebrating and reflecting upon our successes. I want to thank the more than 100 banks (63%) that recently completed the 2022 NBA Member Survey. Cumulative survey responses provide numerous reasons for celebrating the impact of Nebraska’s banking industry and your NBA. General insights garnered through the survey and related background research include: 1. Nebraska banks employ more than 17,000 Nebraskans, offering highly competitive pay, excellent benefits, positive work-life balance, and the ability to have a direct impact on the lives of their customers. 2. While the number of bank charters continues to decline through mergers and acquisitions, more than 1,050 branches across our state provide valuable banking services in 340 Nebraska communities. 3. Nebraska banks continue to have profound impacts on their customers and their communities: reporting banks contributed almost $400 million in community investments, donations and charitable contributions during 2021. This is an average of $4 million per survey participant. 4. Survey respondents reported volunteering 119,165 hours to community and charitable causes during 2021. This averages out to more than 1,200 volunteer hours per bank that responded. 5. More than 50% of participating banks rated the quality, value, and responsiveness of the NBA’s education and training programs as “excellent.” 6. Ninety-two percent of respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with the NBA’s government relations team, with many comments specifically noting the NBA’s leadership on the opposition to the proposed purchase of a Nebraska bank by an Iowa credit union. Several banks also referenced the positive benefits of the recently implemented Single Bank Pooled Collateral Program. 7. An overwhelming number of respondents rated a variety of NBA communication tools like the NBA Update (89%), the NBA Compliance Update (88%), and the NBA Magazine (72%) as either “valuable” and “highly valuable.” 8. Products offered through NBA Benefit Programs, like the health plan, were consistently rated as “good” or “excellent” by more than 93% of respondents. Numerous Richard J. Baier, President and CEO, Nebraska Bankers Association Celebrate Nebraska’s Banking Industry 8
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