Becoming a Professional Associate1
09/01/2008

Background information, key features of Professional Associate membership and applying for associate membership.

The BBA is the leading UK banking and financial services trade association and acts on behalf of its members on domestic and international issues.

Representing banks and financial firms as an industry body, the BBA's mission is to promote healthy competition that benefits both members and consumers. We achieve this through our core roles of relationship building, influencing, promoting and defending the industry, providing leadership through information and guidance and delivering value-added services.

With the active participation of its members, the BBA works to foster an environment in which financial services are valued and can prosper. It achieves this by influencing the shape of the regulatory and legislative framework through dialogue and partnership, informing members on how developments will affect their businesses, and promoting public understanding of financial services and financial literacy.

Membership Profile of the BBA(*)

• 85% of our members are involved in providing wholesale banking services

• 75% of the membership is of non-UK origin, representing 60 different countries

• 90% of the UK banking sector's assets are held by BBA members

• 95% of all banking employment in the UK is represented by BBA members

Industry statistics

• Over 95% of the population has a bank account
• UK banks clear over 7bn transactions a year
• They facilitate £2.5bn cash withdrawals from a network of over 30,000 free ATMs a year
• Banking and financial services contributes 10% of GDP
• Banking and financial services pays a quarter of all corporation tax
• Together with related activities, some 4 million people rely on the wider financial services industry for their jobs
• £600bn of foreign exchange is passed through London every year

With our international membership and position in the world's leading financial centre, the BBA covers a wide variety of European and international issues such as the prudential regulation of firms and the operation of international capital markets. We are also closely involved with domestic concerns such as UK legislation, FSA regulations and retail public policy issues.

Policy Areas Covered by the BBA include

Accounting
Alternative Investments
Banking Supervision
Basic Bank Accounts
Benchmarks
Business Continuity
Capital Requirements
Clearing & Settlement
Complaints Handling
Conduct of Business
Consumer Credit
Corporate Governance
Credit Derivatives
Data Protection
Dormant Accounts
Electronic Security
EU Regulation / Legislation
Financial Capability
Financial Crime
Financial Inclusion Financial
Reporting
Fixed Income
Foreign Exchange
Fraud
Global Custody
Group Risk
Internal Audit
Markets
MiFID
Money Laundering
Money Markets
Operational Risk Outsourcing
Payments
Physical Security
Retail banking regulation
Saving & Pensions
Securities
Self Regulation
Small Business
Statistics
Taxation
Treating Customers Fairly
Wholesale regulation

Related Links

Key Features of Professional Associate Membership (Internal Link)
Benefits of Associate Membership at a Glance (Internal Link)
Associate Membership Fees (Internal Link)
Applying for Associate Membership (Internal Link)
Frequently Asked Questions (Internal Link)

For further information, please contact:
Jason Cole, Commercial Director (020 7216 8824 jason.cole@bba.org.uk )