Abbreviation FOTB Location Salt Lake City, Utah | Legal status non-partisan | |
Formation 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah Type Super PAC
Industry trade group
Advocacy group Purpose Changing how Congress treats traditional banking by encouraging support for key races each election cycle. | ||
Friends of Traditional Banking (FOTB) is an independent expenditure only committee, or Super PAC, with the aim of improving the political and regulatory environment for the traditional banking industry in the United States. As a non-partisan trade group, Friends of Traditional Banking selects a very small number of Congressional races to get involved in each election cycle (typically two) and encourages their members to donate directly to these campaigns. "This is a much more surgical way of donating to very specific races throughout the country," said Matt Packard, the CEO of Central Bank in Provo, Utah and the first chair of Friends of Traditional Banking.
Contents
The organization is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and has over 15,000 members in all fifty states. They are led by an executive committee including bank executives and bank association executives, and advised by a Fifty State Banker Board made up of bank execs from each state, and an Advisory Council made up of bank association leaders. Their membership and leadership includes execs affiliated with the American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, and other industry groups.
Campaigns
During the 2012 senate elections, FOTB came out in support of Dean Heller, a former banker in Nevada. They also supported Scott Brown in the Senate race in Massachusetts against CFPB creator Elizabeth Warren. Although Warren won in Massachusetts, FOTB's support helped Heller win a narrow victory over Congresswoman Shelley Berkley in Nevada.
In the 2014 senate elections, Friends of Traditional Banking helped direct over 1,000 donations totaling over $500,000 to Cory Gardner in Colorado and another $500,000 plus to Joni Ernst in Iowa. Both Gardner's opponent Sen. Mark Udall and Ernst's opponent Rep. Bruce Braley were defenders of the Dodd-Frank Act and advocated for increased expansion of non-tax paying credit unions. Ernst and Gardner both won on Election Day.
Reaction
When first announced in 2012, Friends of Traditional Banking was described by Salon as a "smokescreen of a sobriquet," while the Huffington Post said it was part of the banks' "plan for world domination." However, the National Journal commented that "the bankers' non-super PAC super PAC" was "taking a novel approach" that promised to be both effective and transparent.
After the 2014 elections, Politico commented that "The industry went to bat in a big way for Gardner, routing him money through Friends of Traditional Banking,".