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A Century of Serving The original New Jersey Bankers Association was founded by 53 commercial bankers in 1903 as a way to collectively address what founders considered to be “adverse legislation.” After considering an invitation to join the New Jersey Bankers Association in 1908, the state’s savings bankers decided to form their own association, the New Jersey Savings Bank Association. A year later the state’s building and loan associations created their own group, the New Jersey Building and Loan League. While all three groups initially had differing priorities due to the types of institutions they represented, changes in the marketplace over the decades brought many of their issues and concerns into alignment. The original Savings Bank Association of New Jersey, which had been renamed New Jersey’s Community and Savings Bankers, combined with the original New Jersey Building and Loan League, which had been renamed the New Jersey Savings League, in 1996. The combined group took on a new name of New Jersey League Community and Savings Bankers that was later shortened to New Jersey League of Community Bankers. In 2009 the original New Jersey Bankers Association and the New Jersey League of Community Bankers combined and now for the first time in New Jersey’s history there is a single organization representing the interests of the banking industry in the state. The new, combined group kept the New Jersey Bankers Association name and commonly uses NJBankers as an abbreviated name. Firms that provide goods and services to the banking industry are eligible to join the association as associate members. As in 1903, the primary function of NJBankers today is to represent members’ interests before legislators and regulators to ensure that banks compete in a fair and open marketplace. Additionally, NJBankers maintains a visible public and media relations effort to ensure fair and balanced media coverage of the industry. Member education is another principal service of the association and is provided through conferences, seminars and publications, all designed to keep bankers and their directors up-to-date on important banking matters. TICIC, Inc., NJBankers’ wholly-owned subsidiary, pools members’ financial resources to provide loans for low- to moderate-income housing and community development projects that would typically be too large for many members to finance on their own. Additionally, NJBankers and many in its membership own the Bankers Cooperative Group, Inc. The cooperative provides NJBankers and member employees with group health, life and other employee benefit insurance services, as well as a broad range of business insurance products for banks. The NJBA Service Corporation is a for-profit subsidiary of NJBankers that develops relationships with a variety of service providers to bring valued products and services to our member banks. NJBankers is governed by a board of directors
composed of banking member executives and headed by a Chairman elected
by the Board. The association also has volunteer committees, composed of
employees of its member institutions, which meet regularly and provide
counsel and advice to NJBankers’ staff and the board of directors
in their areas of expertise. |
