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 respondents specifically noted the responsiveness of the NBA staff who support these programs and the importance of having an NBA staff advocate to help with claims navigation when needed.
9. Approximately 50% of respondents utilize NBISCO for insurance coverage. Seventy percent of these rated the knowledge and responsiveness of the NBISCO staff as “excellent.”
10. When asked about the issues that need NBA focus moving forward, the attraction and retention of banker talent was the number one priority. Participants also mentioned the need for pushing back against credit unions and Farm Credit, fighting regulatory overreach, young banker education, using enhanced cyber tools, having human resources assistance and consulting, helping address Community Reinvestment Act requirements, and offering Medicare supplement insurance coverage as a priority for the NBA and NBISCO.

I am honored to work with an engaged NBA team that supports the work of our bank members in a professional and highly effective way. They truly epitomize exceptional customer service, typically with a smile and a hello (and sometimes a hearty laugh). Clearly, we have much to celebrate and even more to look forward to as we move into 2023!