Rob Nichols

Rob Nichols
ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols
Born (1969-01-03) January 3, 1969 (age 57)
Camden, New Jersey
OccupationFinancial services trade association executive
Known forAssistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs (2003–2005)
President and CEO, Financial Services Forum (2005–2015)
President and CEO, American Bankers Association (2016–present)

Robert Stanley Nichols (born January 3, 1969) is an American association executive and former public official. He is currently the president and CEO of the American Bankers Association. He was previously president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum from 2005 to 2015 and an assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department during the George W. Bush administration.

Early life, education and career

Nichols was born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1969. He was raised in Seattle and moved to Washington, D.C., to attend George Washington University. He is a Sigma Alpha Epsilon Alumni Association member.

After graduation in 1991, he worked in the White House in the George H. W. Bush administration and served as an aide to then-Transportation Secretary Andy Card. After the Bush administration ended, Nichols held positions with the Washington state Republican Party; as a senior aide for the late Rep. Jennifer Dunn and former Sen. Slade Gorton. In 1995, he married his wife, Rebecca, whom he met at GWU. They have two children.

Treasury Department

In early 2001, Nichols was named deputy assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs in the George W. Bush administration, serving as the Treasury Department's spokesman. In April 2003, Bush nominated Nichols as assistant secretary for public affairs. He was confirmed in August 2003 and sworn in by Treasury Secretary John Snow.

Financial Services Forum

Nichols speaks at a 2008 Financial Services Forum event in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In 2005, Nichols became president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum, then based in New York City. The forum represents 18 CEOs of America's largest financial firms, including banks, insurers, and asset managers.

American Bankers Association

In May 2015, Nichols was named president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, the nation’s largest trade group representing banks of all sizes. During his tenure as CEO, several bills and regulatory proposals supported by ABA have been enacted, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the first major banking reform bill since the Dodd-Frank Act, the bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155). In 2019, Nichols was a vocal advocate for the SAFE Banking Act, which would allow banks to serve the cannabis industry. With ABA’s support, the legislation was passed by the House with a bipartisan vote in September 2019.

Nichols also reorganized ABA’s political engagement strategy, with the association producing ads endorsing congressional candidates for the first time—both Republicans and Democrats—and increasing its political activity in the 2020 campaign cycle. “Our goal is to support candidates who understand and appreciate the critical role banks of all sizes play in the economy,” Nichols said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “We plan to expand our efforts in 2020 on a rigorously bipartisan basis.”

Nichols also announced ABA efforts to help banks innovate, including the association’s first direct investments in fintech companies. At ABA’s annual convention in 2018, he challenged large core processing firms to improve the services they provide to community banks, especially when it comes to implementing mobile banking, real-time payments and other services customers are demanding.

References

  1. 1 2 Tracy, Ryan (May 27, 2015). "Rob Nichols, a Voice of Big Finance Firms in Washington, To Lead ABA". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Sparks, Evan. "Swimming Upstream". ABA Banking Journal. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  3. ↑ "The United States Senate Committee on Finance". Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Rob Nichols". White House Archive Site. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ "President Trump Signs Historic Tax Bill". ABA Banking Journal. December 22, 2017. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  6. ↑ Haggerty, Neil (May 22, 2018). "Congress seals deal on Dodd-Frank reforms". American Banker. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  7. ↑ Nichols, Rob (February 18, 2019). "End the cannabis banking problem". The Hill. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  8. ↑ Warmbrodt, Zachary (September 25, 2019). "How Republicans learned to love a pot bill". Politico. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  9. ↑ Rogers, Alex (July 18, 2019). "Bank lobby builds 'political machine' to spend for 2020 House and Senate races". CNN. Archived from the original on December 27, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  10. ↑ Clozel, Lalita (August 22, 2019). "Banks Plan to Boost Campaign Spending in 2020". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 27, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  11. ↑ Crosman, Penny (January 25, 2019). "Why startup Finxact just got $30M from the ABA, SunTrust, others". American Banker. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  12. ↑ Hernandez, Will (October 23, 2018). "ABA urges core providers to do more for community banks". American Banker. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2019.