Pub. 7 2016 Issue 3

www.wvbankers.org 8 West Virginia Banker I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the West Virginia Bankers Associ- ation as General Counsel and Director of Government Relations. It is an exciting and important time for our industry, our economy and our society. Every election year brings new ideas and new opportu- nities for much needed change and new challenges. As this election year unfolds, we look forward to forging meaningful relationships with newly elected officials at every level of government and to strengthening our existing relationships with those who have served or are cur- rently serving the people of this State. I believe very strongly that “government” relations is really just “public” relations. After all, our government is comprised of a group of individual members of the public who have been elected to represent larger groups of the public with a wide ar- ray of interests and concerns. Our mem- ber institutions are owned and operated by members of the public. They employ members of the public. They provide the primary safeguard for the people’s money and they offer a wide range of financial services to help plan, save, and invest in our future. Our banks provide loans and financing for both public and private enterprise, and those enterprises create new markets, attract new consum- ers, create employment opportunities, and offer goods and services and other countless benefits to the public. As both good corporate citizens of our state and our communities, no one understands the relationship between banks and the public better than the bankers. Our banks are the foundation upon which our communities are built and our bankers understand their duty and responsibility to ensure the safety and soundness of the financial services system while also providing the best and most inno- vative products and services to their custom- ers. Our bankers are uniquely positioned to understand the very real economic hurdles that we face. They see the daily struggles of their customers and the difficult economic choices that they must make. Our bankers know what it will take to re-boot our local economies and create new jobs. I am excit- ed about my new role in ensuring that our member organizations are a part of that dis- cussion. I look forward to working with our member institutions and individual bankers to strengthen relationships with our elected representatives and to propose and advocate for sound public policies that support free and open access to banking services, encour- ages innovation and growth within the fi- nancial services marketplace, and prescribes a rational risk based regulatory framework that promotes economic growth in our local communities and across our State. n GR / PR It’s All About Relationships By Loren Allen, General Counsel and Government Relations Director