NEW YORK — Bankers gathered in the darkened ballroom of the Midtown Hilton were reminded this week that while their businesses are local, their work is critical to national security and tied to events half a world away.
Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the thousand-plus attendees of the American Bankers Association's
"We need to make sure that we're maintaining our superior economy, maintaining superior military, maintaining mature, seasoned leaders that are thoughtful, deliberative, not impulsive, not going to go out there and get us wrapped around the axle of a great power war," Milley said. "History doesn't repeat itself, but as Mark Twain said, it rhymes. We're in one of those moments when history can rhyme."
Milley, now a senior adviser at JPMorgan Chase, discussed these topics in the context of ongoing wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe as well as the development of China's military capabilities. He warned that these conflicts coupled with rising calls domestically for U.S. abandonment of international military and trade pacts, could be "very dangerous."
The remarks appear to take aim at former president Donald Trump and his political movement, which favors both military and economic isolationism. Milley led the Joint Chiefs during Trump's first term in the White House, but the former general has since been critical of the Republican presidential nominee.
Milley was not the only ABA speaker to address geopolitics and their impact on banks during the event. JPMorgan Chase CEO
Dimon acknowledged that some international accords have been duly criticized over the years, but argued they have "worked to keep peace" and should be fiercely protected.
"The real issue is that the leadership, and particularly American leadership, does the things necessary to keep the world free and safe for democracy. That's the strongest military, the strongest economy," Dimon said. "We have to explain to people why Ukraine's so important right now and help our allies, Israel, get through this terrible time."
A frequent commenter on policy matters, Dimon has opined on positions staked out both by Trump as well as the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. He has not endorsed either candidate publicly, but he has
Even those closely aligned with Trump expressed concerns about his policy preferences around defense and trade.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., a former member of the House Financial Services Committee and current member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said it was critical for bankers to throw their support behind Trump to lower taxes, rollback excessive regulations and stimulate growth. But, she also expressed concerns about her party's tilt toward libertarianism.
"Where's the Republican party going to go right now? Are we going to be libertarian and maybe a little more isolationist like some of them want to be, or are we going to go back to realign what our Constitution wants us to be, which is balancing freedom and security to make sure we have a safe community?" Tenney said. "That's really what it's going to come down to."
Throughout the conference, geopolitics was a second-tier policy concern for speakers and attendees alike, with the regulatory environment — dubbed a "regulatory tsunami" by the ABA — taking first priority, followed by burgeoning concerns around fraud and technology. Still the on-stage discussions resonated with the bankers in the audience.
"It reiterates the fact that banking is constantly changing and it is now influenced by the world. It's not just a local thing, all the way down to the community banks," said Mike Porten, a retired banker formerly with Regions Bank who now teaches a banking course at Tennessee Tech University. "I tell my students, if they don't like change, they shouldn't get into banking."
Doug Cook, executive vice president and chief lending officer for Berlin, Maryland-based Taylor Bank, said the conversations — especially the fireside chat with Milley — provided critical information for him both as a banker and as a citizen.
"Conferences like this allow you to step back from what you do every day, when you live in your own little world. You come here and you get a sense of what other people are experiencing around the country, how the world is affecting them, and what your concerns should be," Cook said."Not that you can always do anything about it, but your awareness is huge."
Michael Neill, CEO of First State Bank in Athens, Texas, said Dimon's frustrations about the regulatory environment were representative of the broader banking industry and his comments about global developments provided important context to bankers. But, he noted, that he disagrees with the view that the changing of the global order is the result of U.S. political trends.
"I agree with the sentiment he shared, but global decoupling is happening organically," Neill said. "It's happening because of changing global demographics, the shale revolution and a host of other factors."
