The Australian Banking Association's hopes of recruiting new members from the startup community have been blown out of the water, with two of the country's most prominent banking aspirants saying they want to steer clear of the industry peak body.Banking aspirants Volt bank and Xinja yesterday told Banking Day that they have discussed the prospect of setting up an industry group for digital banks and would never consider invitations to join the ABA.Volt bank's managing director Steve Weston said joining the ABA would not be consistent with the company's strategic agenda to restore public trust in retail banking.He is critical of the ABA's marketing campaign that seeks to restore public confidence in the banking industry under the slogan of "Australian bank profits belong to you"."As well intentioned as this and other ABA programs might have been, they now appear disingenuous," said Weston."Putting advertisements such as those out is not something we would feel comfortable with at Volt."Weston also indicated the ABA would not be a good cultural fit for digital banks such as Volt that were aiming to transform banking practices in Australia."The reason the big four banks are in a spot of bother has much to do with the fact they are mired in bureaucracy and legacy thinking," he said."I think we would have a much better opportunity to improve how banking services are provided by showing we can do it differently rather than having an association with the ABA."Volt bank is the first startup to secure a restricted banking licence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and is hoping to achieve full accreditation from the regulator before the end of the year. Another banking aspirant, Xinja, is also vowing to keep the ABA at a safe distance.While Xinja has not yet secured an authority to raise deposits in Australia, it is already issuing prepaid Visa cards as an authorised representative of e-payments specialist, Indue."We don't have an approved deposit taking licence so I suppose membership of the ABA is a moot issue until we're able to secure such authority from the regulators," said Xinja chief executive, Eric Wilson."However, we're not interested in joining the ABA - it doesn't make sense for us to be a part of a legacy banking peak body."Wilson confirmed that he approached Weston a few months ago to discuss setting up a peak body for digital banks in Australia."Nothing was fixed or confirmed out of those talks other than we agreed that it would be a good idea," he said.Wilson said Xinja was looking to embed "decency, honesty and honour" in the way it engages with customers.When asked to comment on whether the ABA's advertising campaign was aligned with Xinja's values, Wilson said: "I think it reflects the position of their members accurately."The decisions by Xinja and Volt bank to keep away from the ABA could induce regional banks such as Bank of Queensland and Suncorp to review their involvement in the peak body.Since a collection of regional banks submitted a rival submission to