Washington, D.C. (Feb. 14, 2024) — The Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) today announced the opening of the new ICBA Center for Innovation in Atlanta, establishing a permanent home for its world-class community bank innovation initiatives.

“The ICBA Center for Innovation embodies our commitment to upholding our mission of creating and promoting an environment where community banks flourish,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “This center will serve as a home for enhanced collaboration as community bankers, fintechs and industry experts work collectively to solve for our industry’s most pressing business challenges and opportunities. We are thrilled to open our doors to both our members and the broader community banking ecosystem that supports them.”

Located in the heart of midtown, the Atlanta headquarters offers a permanent home for ICBA’s Innovation team and programming, which includes its nationally acclaimed ThinkTECH Accelerator program, ThinkTECH Connect, Solutions Forums, webinars and other events designed to engage and advance community banking innovation. Located at 999 Peachtree Street NE, the new center’s official opening will be commemorated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception, sponsored by Fiserv, Ncontracts, TrueNorth and Wipfli.

“Community banks are vital to the health of our local financial system and economy — from understanding the nuances of small businesses to being truly vested in and bettering the communities that they serve,” said Noah Downer, senior vice president of economic development for Invest Atlanta. “We are pleased about the opening of ICBA’s Center for Innovation as we know that it will further strengthen community banking as well as the fintech industry at large in Atlanta.”

“We recognize that true innovation is not just with 10-week sprints or individual touchpoints with our team, so we wanted to create a dedicated space for our members to foster year-round ideation,” ICBA Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Charles Potts said. “This space puts ICBA in the center of Atlanta’s financial services community, with our local partners within walking distance of our office. The Center for Innovation empowers our members to learn and connect with their peers and industry partners, creating new opportunities under a shared vision.”

ICBA’s annual ThinkTECH Regulator Day is also set for the morning of Thursday, Feb. 15, at the Center for Innovation. The event fosters engagement between regulatory agencies and the cohort companies to discuss opportunity for community bank advancement within the confines of the regulatory landscape in which community banks operate. Participants include leaders from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Georgia Department of Banking.

ICBA continues to evolve its programming to offer more opportunities to engage with and experience innovation that addresses timely and critical community banking needs. Fintech companies interested in participating in future innovation programming can apply now. For more information about ICBA ThinkTECH Innovation programming and upcoming opportunities at the ICBA Center for Innovation, visit icba.org/accelerator.

About ICBA

The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.

As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.