Pub. 15 2020-21 Issue 6

NEBRASKA BANKERS ASSOCIATION 11 A prime example of this is Figure Bank, which recently applied for a national banking charter through the OCC that, among other things, would allow it to operate without deposit insurance. Email Rob Nichols at rnichols@aba.com . strongly against a recent National Credit Union Administration effort to further loosen the field of membership restrictions. Even the agency’s former chair blasted the move as “abandon[ing] rigorous and introspective analysis and its congressional mandate to stay clearly within the four corners of the Federal Credit Union Act.” Should policymakers accelerate attempts to push the Federal Reserve or the U.S. Postal Service into retail banking, we’ll continue making the case that this kind of involvement is unnec- essary because consumers are already well-served by a broad and diverse financial services sector. According to the FDIC, the share of unbanked U.S. households in 2019 reached a record low of 5.4%. Banks are working to close that gap further through the Bank On movement, and a fast-growing number of banks have signed on. Bank On certi- fied accounts are now offered in 28,000 branches nationwide, in 99 out of the 100 largest metropolitan markets and in all 50 states. For us to convey this message, how- ever, we must ensure that community banks have the capacity and ability to keep innovating. That’s why we’ve been working diligently through ABA’s Core Platforms Committee to smooth over some of the bumps in the road that have historically held banks back from rolling out new digital products and services that their customers want and that they need to remain competitive. By supporting the digital transi- tion — an effort that was well underway before the pandemic but is now acceler- ating at an even faster pace — America’s banks can continue their work to support an economic recovery that is robust and inclusive. 