The Central Indiana Chapter of RMA is one of over 100 currently active RMA chapters in North America and is represented approximately 200 individual members primarily from local area financial institutions but also from other local area firms including finance companies, accounting firms, law firms, business consultants and government regulatory authorities related to the financial services industry. 
 
The Central Indiana Chapter of RMA provides networking opportunities for members and nonmembers and is responsible for the delivery of many RMA resources and training programs related to credit, operational, and market risk. Since the late 1970s, the local chapter has hosted its own Commercial Lending School. The current format, which has been in place for the last eight years, is a three day school held on the campus of The University of Indianapolis in July of each year.

RMA was founded in 1914 to help commercial bankers make better lending decisions through the exchange of credit information.  Today, it is the only professional organization to specialize in promoting effective and prudent risk management practices for institutions of all sizes across the financial services industry.  In fact, the American Banker describes RMA as the “trade group responsible for guarding credit quality and promoting risk management.”

Early in the last century, lenders recognized the need for an exchange of credit information.  In 1913, a group of bankers informally exchanging credit information in the lobby of the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City decided to found an association for that express purpose.  The first meeting of what was then called the Robert Morris Club took place on June 25 and was attended by 82 lenders.

Who was Robert Morris?  The Association was originally named after Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the primary financier of the Revolutionary War.  After the war, Morris became an active acquirer of real estate, establishing a syndicate that covered the entire East Coast.  The syndication soon began to falter and he eventually landed in debtors prison for failing to pay his debts.  George Washington visited Morris in prison an soon persuaded the U.S. Congress to enact the first bankruptcy statute so that a founding father of the country would not languish in jail.