ABA’s annual Government Relations Summit and several related programs began on Monday with more than 1,200 bankers in attendance. ABA Monday night kicked off its Mutual Community Bank Forum, which continued Tuesday, along with ABA's Emerging Leaders Forum. On Wednesday, ABA held its annual Women's Leadership Forum.

The formal GR Summit program opened on Tuesday morning with keynote presentations by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.). Tuesday's agenda also included a session with senior personnel from the FDIC, OCC and Federal Reserve, as well as an advocacy update from a panel of ABA leaders.

Tuesday afternoon, Summit attendees, including South Dakota bankers, visited their representatives on the Hill to build support for the passage by the House of S. 2155, a bipartisan regulatory reform bill. As bankers prepared to head to Capitol Hill, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), one of the Democratic co-sponsors of S. 2155, charged them to urge the House to pass the regulatory reform measure immediately in its original form, warning that “this bill will not pass if it comes back to the Senate.” 

On Wednesday, attendees heard from Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting and Fox News Chief Political Anchor Bret Baier. 

(Photo L-R: SDBA President Curt Everson and Sen. Mike Rounds courtesy of Sen. Mike Rounds.)