Bank Administration Institute (BAI)

What Is the Bank Administration Institute (BAI)?

The Bank Administration Institute (BAI) is a non-profit organization that focuses on improving banking standards (in the operations and auditing areas) while analyzing risks and promoting productivity-enhancing technology solutions.

The BAI runs professional schools, conferences, and individual programs. In addition to teaching, learning, and development programs, it also operates a research affiliate that produces various reports.

Understanding the Bank Administration Institute (BAI)

The BAI also functions as a networking and central resource center for those who are responsible for operations, compliance, and auditing functions within the financial services industry. The organization prides itself on providing unbiased research that allows member institutions to benchmark their performance on metrics such as deposit growth, interest rate risk, and other important industry parameters.

The BAI has also been at the forefront of technological innovation in banking and financial services, conducting research into new technologies and advocating for their implementation. For instance, the BAI helped pioneer the advent of automated teller machines (ATMs) in the 1980s and online banking in the internet age.

BAI collaborates with financial services leaders from around the globe working in a variety of industry segments, and in particular:

History of the Bank Administration Institute

The Bank Administration Institute was founded in the wake of the Great Depression of the 1920s, when regional banking auditors met to discuss the financial disaster and its consequences. That group of industry leaders found in-person connections to be important and relevant for their work, and they realized that a national organization would greatly improve the exchange of information.

Soon after that first meeting in 1924, the organization — originally called the National Association of Bank Auditors and Controllers (NABAC) — began to hold annual conventions and distribute a magazine focused on financial industry topics.

In 1981, BAI launched the first electronic information service, Innerline, providing 24-hour access to world news briefs, American Banker news service, financial information on 8,500 publicly held corporations, and email and online registration for BAI conferences. Later, BAI conferences evolved to focus on implementing and using changing technologies, including the first ATMs. 

During the 2010s, the BAI shifted its focus to promoting new financial technologies such as web-based online banking, the development of mobile apps, and digital payments platforms.

The 1928 convention was attended by 19 people. In 2015, the BAI conference event saw more than 3,000 financial services professionals in attendance.