About The Forum
The Financial Services Forum is a non-partisan financial and economic policy organization comprising the CEOs of 18 of the largest and most diversified financial services institutions doing business in the United States.
The purpose of the Forum is to pursue policies that encourage savings and investment, promote an open and competitive global marketplace, and ensure the opportunity of people everywhere to participate fully and productively in the 21st-century global economy. As a group, the Forum’s member institutions employ more than 2 million people in 175 countries.
The Forum’s three primary missions are:
1) To educate the public about the importance of robust capital markets
2) To encourage a competitive global marketplace
3) To shape the national and international regulatory dialogue
Leadership
Brian Moynihan, Chief Executive Officer of Bank of America, is the Forum’s Chairman.
James Gorman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley, is the Forum’s Vice Chair.
Rob Nichols, former assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, serves as the Forum’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
The Forum was founded in 2000 and has been called “perhaps the country’s most powerful trade association” by Time.
Why The Forum Is Unique
Five aspects of the Forum distinguish it from other policy or membership organizations.
1) The Forum is a CEO-driven organization. While the Forum’s staff contribute significantly to the Forum’s research, analysis, and deliberation of selected issues, the group’s agenda, priorities, objectives, and positions are determined by the member CEOs.
2) The Forum’s member institutions are all financial services firms.
3) The Forum is a small organization, with a membership of 18 CEOs.
4) The three major sectors of the financial services marketplace – commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance – as well as specialized financial services firms, are represented within the Forum’s membership.
5) The Forum is a non-partisan public policy organization that, unlike many Washington trade groups, does not operate a Political Action Committee to donate to political campaigns.
Coalition Leadership
The Forum also chairs the Engage China Coalition, a coalition of 12 financial services trade associations united in support of high-level engagement with China, with an emphasis on greater market access and continued financial sector reform in China.