Institute of International Bankers

==Background==
Founded in 1966, the Institute is the only national association devoted exclusively to representing and advancing the interests of the international banking community in the United States. Its membership is comprised of internationally headquartered banking/financial institutions from over 30 countries around the world. Collectively, the U.S. branches, agencies, banking subsidiaries, securities affiliates and other operations of the Institute's member banks are an important source of credit for U.S. borrowers and enhance the depth and liquidity of U.S. financial markets. Institute member banks also inject billions of dollars each year into the economies of major cities across the country through the direct employment of over 100,000 U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as through other operating and capital expenditures.
==Mission==
The Institute's mission is to ensure that federal and state banking laws and regulations provide international banks operating in the United States with the same competitive opportunities as domestic banking organizations. Applying U.S. banking laws and regulations to the U.S. branches, agencies, securities affiliates and other operations of international banks is enormously complicated and can produce unintended adverse results. The Institute therefore carefully monitors legislative, regulatory and tax developments at the federal and state level and participates in the process to seek results that are consistent with the U.S. policy of national treatment and that advance the interests of its members. The Institute also seeks to ensure that the global operations of its member banks are not subject to unjustified extraterritorial applications of U.S. laws.
As the representative of the international banking community in the United States, the Institute is able to achieve goals that often would be impossible or prohibitively expensive for any one bank or a small group of banks to accomplish. Through frequent testimony, comment letters, briefings and informal discussions, the Institute advocates the interests of international banks on pending legislative and regulatory issues before such governmental bodies as the House and Senate Banking Committees, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, state banking departments, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. From regulatory burden relief to major tax issues that affect member banks of every size, the Institute's results-oriented focus is on solving the various problems that confront the international banking community in the U.S.
The Institute also serves as a source of information to policy makers, the media and other interested parties on international banking issues, provides a forum for the discussion of those issues, and contributes to a better understanding of the benefits of a free global financial marketplace through its studies, white papers and other publications.
==Governance and Organization==
The Institute's policies are guided by Board of Trustees elected by the membership, and its operations are managed by a full-time Chief Executive Officer. The general manager of each member bank serves as a voting representative and the composition of the Board is carefully balanced to reflect the diversity of the Institute's membership. Eleven members of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer serve as Institute Officers and together comprise the Executive Committee. In addition, there are standing committees which draw on the resources of the Institute's entire membership. The largest committees are the Legislative and Regulatory Committee, the Tax Committee and the Compliance Officers Committee.
While the Board formally sets the policy agenda, the Institute's membership at large provides direct input and guidance on major legislative, regulatory and tax matters through frequent meetings and communications. In addition, member bank representatives from the same country or region get together at the Institute on a regular basis to discuss developments of particular importance to them.
==Events==
Each year in March, the Institute sponsors a two-day conference in Washington, D.C., featuring senior U.S. and international government policy makers and financial industry leaders. As part of the conference, which is widely attended by general managers and other senior officers of Institute member banks, there is an evening reception for the Washington community, including Administration officials, Members of Congress, banking regulators and senior staff.
During the annual IMF/World Bank meetings, the Institute holds an on-site "Breakfast Dialogue with Government Officials, which customarily includes a senior Treasury Department official, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, and a senior member from both the Senate and House Banking Committees. The format of the Breakfast Dialogue is designed to encourage an active exchange of views between the speakers and senior management from the U.S. and home offices of the Institute's member banks.
The Institute also holds periodic Membership Luncheons featuring guest speakers drawn from the highest levels of government and industry.
==Education==
The Institute conducts seminars throughout the year on important policy issues affecting the international banking community in the United States, as well as seminars on developments in new financial products and business strategies. Some of these programs are conducted on a yearly basis, such as the two-day tax seminar each June, while others are arranged in response to recent developments.
==Publications==
Institute publications include the bimonthly International Banking Focus/Institute News. The Focus describes the latest legislative, regulatory and tax developments in Washington and various states, along with the Institute's efforts to address particular problems that affect international banks. The News reports on Institute events and activities.
Each fall, the Institute publishes its Annual Global Survey of Regulatory and Market Developments in Banking, Securities and Insurance. Publication is timed to coincide with the IMF/World Bank annual meetings. The 40-country survey, produced in cooperation with banking associations from around the world, provides valuable information to U.S. policy makers and is very helpful to the Institute's ongoing government relations efforts in Washington. The survey is also used as a resource by policy makers in other countries.
The Institute's "Economic Benefits" study documents the economic contributions that international banks make to the United States, and also addresses the benefits that other countries enjoy from the extensive activities of U.S. and other non-domestic banks in their markets.
The Institute also periodically publishes white papers on issues of importance to the international banking community. These papers have dealt with the issue of "firewalls"' in connection with U.S. securities affiliates, U.S. regulatory problems resulting from the integration of banking and insurance in other countries, and the many major tax issues that arise in connection with U.S. branch and agency operations of our member banks.
==Source==
Category:Industry Associations
Category:Banks