AUTUMN 2002

Banking Latino Immigrants

How to Market to Latinos

Electronic Transfer Accounts
Bring Banking to the "Unbanked"

Tax Refunds Start Ball Rolling

Spanning the Region

Have You Heard

Calendar

Banking Latino Immigrants
A Lucrative New Market for Progressive Financial Institutions

The author, in black dress, visits the recent Feria de Finanzas (Festival of Finances) at the nonprofit organization El Centro, in Kansas City, Kan. Banks opened 76 new accounts during the event.

On a warm Friday in August, Stephen Galvan proudly stands outside his bank’s headquarters in a Latino neighborhood in Kansas City, Kan. The place is teeming with Argentine immigrants ready to deposit their paychecks. Industrial State Bank, the financial institution that hired Galvan 30 years ago, does a healthy business in this thriving Latino enclave. With four branches in inner city Kansas City, the bank is ideally located to serve Latino immigrants.

To open accounts for many immigrants who lack traditional documents such as a driver’s license and Social Security number, Galvan persuaded his bank to accept Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) and matriculas consulares, official identification cards issued by the Mexican government.

“Latino immigrants are in tremendous need for financial services,” Galvan says. “They are the workers in America who take the jobs that other Americans refuse to take—the low wage, unskilled jobs,” Galvan says. “They pay taxes in America, and they should be given the opportunity to fulfill their basic banking and credit needs.” ...FULL STORY