Thread: Accent on trust: Latino banks stress culture, communication

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/bus/sto ... 4783f.html

Accent on trust: Latino banks stress culture, communication



06:48 PM CDT on Saturday, July 2, 2005

By DIANNE SOLÃ?S / The Dallas Morning News


Money is money. Interest rates are interest rates. So why would anyone tailor a bank to one ethnic group?

It's an important consideration for Latinos, a heavily immigrant group that tends to be distrustful of banks.

That's why so many banks are cropping up in Texas and elsewhere that look more like taquerÃÂ*as than finance houses, that sport murals rather than pastel landscapes, and that greet customers with, "En que lo puedo ayudar," Spanish for "How can I help you?"

Laredo National Bank, a unit of the Spanish financial house BBVA SA, has banks that resemble haciendas, with Mexican tilework, bright interiors and Bienvenidos painted over entrances.

Customers walking into Banco Independiente in McKinney, a branch of that city's Independent Bank, will find marigold-colored walls, bowls of Mexican candies and a children's play corner.

But more needs to be done, says one market expert.

Some banks think it's enough to say, "Here I am. Now open an account," says Dallas Mexican Consul Carlos GarcÃÂ*a de Alba, who has advised dozens of bank executives. But with Latinos, he points out, "it's a matter of trust."

The Latino population numbers 41 million in the United States, and the Lone Star State has the second-largest concentration. In Texas, Latinos number 7.6 million and make up 35 percent of the population, according to 2003 census data.

Targeting this market isn't as simple as choosing a strategy for the fully assimilated vs. the freshly arrived.

The influx of people from Mexico alone is now so great and the homeland so near that it's creating a new class of consumer: the transnational.

U.S. immigrants are sending escalating sums of money back to the homeland and, increasingly, buying properties on both sides of the border.

Finance houses as diverse as North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp., Puerto Rico's Popular Inc., Spain's BBVA and Mexico's Hipotecaria Su Casita SA are trying different strategies to reach the Latino market.

Bank of America uses enticements that include reduced fees on sending money, or remittances, back to Mexico. Products range from checking accounts to mortgages to pension plans.

The courtship has included touting services at night meetings of Mexican state associations in cities such as Fort Worth, and sponsoring "financial fitness" events with the Mexican soccer team Chivas in Los Angeles, home to the largest concentration of Mexicans in the U.S.

In 2004, the efforts paid off with the sale of products to 1 million new Hispanic customers.

"Bank of America has been servicing immigrants for hundreds of years," says Marcos Rosenberg, senior vice president and multicultural marketing executive at Bank of America. First, it was Italians, then the Irish, and now it's Mexicans and other Hispanic immigrants, he says.

New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has set up a mobile bank unit in front of the Mexican consulate in Chicago. In Dallas, Chase spreads its brand name by sponsoring such community groups as the local ballet folklorico.


Extra effort

Not to be outdone in the grassroots department, McKinney's Banco Independiente has even sent its staff to laundromats to court clients.

"Our biggest advertising is word-of-mouth," says Tres Garza, the bank's president. "You treat one right, and the rest of the family comes in and then the compadres."

The extra effort can be as simple as explaining a bank account's fees in Spanish, Mr. Garza says.

One customer switched to Banco Independiente simply because she didn't understand the charges she received each time her previous bank account fell below the $300 minimum, he says.

Many consumers in the banks' bull's-eye, commercially speaking, are like Martin Bravo, a 39-year-old bakery worker.

Inside the lobby of the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, Mr. Bravo braves lines of people snaking in several directions to receive an identification card now accepted by more and more banks and some government agencies.

Weekly, the Dallas consulate churns out up to 1,500 of the identification cards, known as a matricula consula, that have more tamper-proof features than ever. That's triple the amount of two years ago.

"I really need a better identification card," Mr. Bravo says, before he plunks down $27 for the ID application. "To get my checks paid, I need to have this identification."

Eventually, he plans to open a bank account, too. Payday robberies of immigrants have just become too common, he says.

Some immigrants distrust banks because of the history of currency devaluations in their homelands. Others simply dislike an officious manner that smacks too much of the U.S. government, or worse, a U.S. immigration agent.

Too many Mexican consumers think that if they go to the bank and suggest or disclose that they are in the U.S. illegally, they will be reported to immigration authorities, says Mr. GarcÃÂ*a, the Dallas Mexican Consul.

"The people don't understand what happens behind the window," he says. "They think that if the employees discover they are undocumented, they will be taken and deported."


Offering comfort

Big banks may be able to price their products to get the business, but smaller operators may score more points on comfort, says Scott Alaniz, equity research analyst for Sandler, O'Neill & Partners LP.

"You're probably not going to be able to beat Bank of America on pricing, but that is fine," Mr. Alaniz says. "What they want is a bank they can trust."

U.S. banks are discovering they're going mano a mano with their Mexican competitors for one of the premium products: home mortgages.

Hipotecaria Su Casita, or Your Little House Mortgage Company, opened a Dallas office two months ago.

To get the word out, it bombarded laundromats, beauty salons and check-cashing outlets in neighborhoods with high immigrant populations with fliers that teased: "Su Pedacito de México, Your Little Piece of Mexico."

Says Francisco Cardiel, manager of the Dallas office: "It's a phrase that many Mexicans can identify with. They come here for the American dream. But in their mind, they still think of having their little pedacito de México."

Two of the first clients were Paulo Muñoz, a 32-year-old forklift operator with dual U.S. and Mexican nationality, and his 32-year-old, Mexican-born wife, Adriana.

The couple purchased their first home, a previously owned, two-bedroom house in Santa Catarina, just outside Monterrey. Mrs. Muñoz's parents are living there.

"You just want to have something over there where you come from," Mrs. Muñoz says. "And my parents didn't have a house."


More productive

Mr. Cardiel, the mortgage manager, notes that about $20 billion will be sent back to Mexico this year by immigrants in remittances, citing recent estimates by Mexico's central bank. And that money can be productively channeled into homeownership, he says.

"This is a way to create a patrimony for the family," Mr. Cardiel says.

Mexican interest rates are around 12 percent – about double the U.S. rate. The average loan is $15,000 to $85,000. Thus far, with 300 loans outstanding, Su Casita has had no delinquencies, Mr. Cardiel says.

"It is more than money at stake: It is a moral commitment to the family," Mr. Cardiel says.

To bolster a client's credit history, Mr. Cardiel tutors prospects on building a six-month history of their U.S. earnings.

First, they must open a bank account and deposit all funds in there, even if they are withdrawn quickly, he says.

The Muñozes, who live in an apartment in Mesquite, say they're very happy with their home purchase. And they're considering buying a second house.

"Allá," Mr. Muñoz says. Back there in Mexico.

BRIAN503a--You have outdone yourself with the post of this article. It was hard for me to delete any portion of the quote because I had so much to say about all of it!! But here goes!!

Money is money. Interest rates are interest rates. So why would anyone tailor a bank to one ethnic group?

Tailoring a bank to one ethnic group is ILLEGAL in the United States as it violates federal reserve regulations. Banks have to tailor their services to all potential legal customers.

It's an important consideration for Latinos, a heavily immigrant group that tends to be distrustful of banks.

Well....and why would that be? Are they afraid they are going to steal their money? Do they know something we don't know or is it something "else", eh?

That's why so many banks are cropping up in Texas and elsewhere that look more like taquerÃÂ*as than finance houses, that sport murals rather than pastel landscapes, and that greet customers with, "En que lo puedo ayudar," Spanish for "How can I help you?"

Hmmm...these sound pretty. Write this sentence down. "En que lo puedo ayudar". It could be helpful when we all pose as illegals and make a run for it.

Laredo National Bank, a unit of the Spanish financial house BBVA SA, has banks that resemble haciendas, with Mexican tilework, bright interiors and Bienvenidos painted over entrances.

Oooooh...now THESE really sound pretty. I think we all might consider "hanging out" at these "haciedas banks". I wonder if they serve food and can we have "sleep overs" yet?

Customers walking into Banco Independiente in McKinney, a branch of that city's Independent Bank, will find marigold-colored walls, bowls of Mexican candies and a children's play corner.

See.... I knew they would soon get to the food...."play corner".....next they'll have "free day care at the bank". Ooooo...WOW.....this is NICE...I wanna get ME some of THAT!

But more needs to be done, says one market expert.

Yep....sleepovers and free day care are coming soon. SEE, they just can't do enough for their people. I can only wonder WHY OH WHY they don't do it in Mexico??

Some banks think it's enough to say, "Here I am. Now open an account," says Dallas Mexican Consul Carlos GarcÃÂ*a de Alba, who has advised dozens of bank executives. But with Latinos, he points out, "it's a matter of trust."

There is that "trust" thing again. Hmmmmm. LIke trust in banking only matters to Latnos??? Give me a break.

The Latino population numbers 41 million in the United States, and the Lone Star State has the second-largest concentration. In Texas, Latinos number 7.6 million and make up 35 percent of the population, according to 2003 census data.

Is that legal or illegal? Or both? Just what do these figures mean?

Targeting this market isn't as simple as choosing a strategy for the fully assimilated vs. the freshly arrived.

OH! A new term...the "freshly arrived" like a fresh shipment of tomatoes.

The influx of people from Mexico alone is now so great and the homeland so near that it's creating a new class of consumer: the transnational.

There it is...another new term...."TRANSNATIONAL". Aren't they cute...these people have a new word for everything to conceal what it really means or might be referring to.

U.S. immigrants are sending escalating sums of money back to the homeland and, increasingly, buying properties on both sides of the border.

BUYING PROPERTIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER? I thought they were broke, starving, homeless, desperate, dehydrated, penniless, assetless, "justwantingabetterlife". "I teenk somebody made a meestake"!! These are "second home" folks; people maximizing their options...with respect to homeland (2), country (2), allegiance (2? naaah just 1, the other one), patriotism (2? naaaah just 1, the other one)

The courtship has included touting services at night meetings of Mexican state associations in cities such as Fort Worth, and sponsoring "financial fitness" events with the Mexican soccer team Chivas in Los Angeles, home to the largest concentration of Mexicans in the U.S.

"Mexican state associations in cities such as Fort Worth". I thought Fort Worth was in the state of Texas. Have they already taken Fort Worth and I missed it?

In 2004, the efforts paid off with the sale of products to 1 million new Hispanic customers.

Well.....in a nation of over 300,000,000 I guess that's alot for all the fuss? Or not?

"Bank of America has been servicing immigrants for hundreds of years," says Marcos Rosenberg, senior vice president and multicultural marketing executive at Bank of America. First, it was Italians, then the Irish, and now it's Mexicans and other Hispanic immigrants, he says.

NOW....this really made me mad. This implies that B&A did the same thing for Italians and Irish as it's doing for the Mexicans and other hispanic immigrants. I mean that is what this Marcos Rosenberg is saying isn't it? Does anybody remember Bank of America outfitting their banks with clovers and leprachauns or green candies or "play corners" for the kids of the Irish immigrants? Or serving cannolis to draw the Italians? Look...I'm half Irish...my ex is half Italian....and I can assure you that in our lifetimes, our grandparents life times, our parents lifetimes that neither Bank of America nor any other bank in the United States pandered us with anything unique to our "heritage". What about you guys? Anything in your American Banking Experience that would even come close to this silliness?

New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has set up a mobile bank unit in front of the Mexican consulate in Chicago. In Dallas, Chase spreads its brand name by sponsoring such community groups as the local ballet folklorico.

Now...if I was "distrustful" of a bank, I'd be particularly if not VERY DISTRUSTFUL of that MOBILE UNIT. Set it up in front of the Consulate Office...is that just TOO FUNNY!! What did I tell you guys? These people are DESPERATE....DON'T SPEND, SAVE!! They are grovelling...I mean..this is just too hilarious that CHASE would stoop to motor carriages to get their money. Maybe we should apply for the "DRIVER'S POSITION". I can not even imagine that this is a legal banking method approved by the United States Federal Reserve. I mean...if it was a big day, you just drive away!!

Extra effort

Not to be outdone in the grassroots department, McKinney's Banco Independiente has even sent its staff to laundromats to court clients.

Sent staff to laundromats. This is just too funny. People use laundromats because they don't own a washing machine. So what does this banking staff expect to do when they get to the laundromat? Open some bank accounts with a bunch of quarters? OH MY GOD. I'm telling you, these banks are in trouble.....these are sure signs of desperation in our banking industry.....CAPITALIZE....DON'T SPEND, SAVE!! Move your money out of a big bank and put it in a little bank.

"Our biggest advertising is word-of-mouth," says Tres Garza, the bank's president. "You treat one right, and the rest of the family comes in and then the compadres."

Sure, just like border crossings!!

Some immigrants distrust banks because of the history of currency devaluations in their homelands. Others simply dislike an officious manner that smacks too much of the U.S. government, or worse, a U.S. immigration agent.

There it is again, that "distrust" thing...oooh, I see, they don't like that "officious" manner that "smacks" of the US Government or WORSE, a US Immigration Agent. Yep.....these are not people our government will end up having a close relationship with. Nope. These people aren't going to have anything to do with anything that "smacks" of Officialdom. "Officious"...another "new word". Damn, we could come out with the REAL NEW WORLD DICTIONARY and get rich!!!

Too many Mexican consumers think that if they go to the bank and suggest or disclose that they are in the U.S. illegally, they will be reported to immigration authorities, says Mr. GarcÃÂ*a, the Dallas Mexican Consul.

Oh yeeah....that illegal thing could be a problem!! If I were ICE, I'd be getting addresses of all these hacienda banks and set myself up in a mobile unit next to JP Morgan Chase Bank's mobile unit, wait, every once in awhle, wave at them.....then call a big tow truck and haul the whole damn thing down to LOCK UP!!

"The people don't understand what happens behind the window," he says. "They think that if the employees discover they are undocumented, they will be taken and deported."

Well....yes and that is a highly reasonable expectation if the US enforced its immigration laws....hopefully "coming soon to an ICE office near you".

Offering comfort

Oooooh...now they are offering "comfort"....I'm telling ya, free day care is on its way.

"You're probably not going to be able to beat Bank of America on pricing, but that is fine," Mr. Alaniz says. "What they want is a bank they can trust."

There's that "trust" thing again. I theenk it meens "partners in crime"....you know that bond that felons form working together.

Hipotecaria Su Casita, or Your Little House Mortgage Company, opened a Dallas office two months ago.

To get the word out, it bombarded laundromats, beauty salons and check-cashing outlets in neighborhoods with high immigrant populations with fliers that teased: "Su Pedacito de México, Your Little Piece of Mexico."

Your Little Piece of Mexico...they "teased". I could slap them in the face!!

But, the sheer hilarity of banks "bombarding" laundromats, beauty salons and check-cashing outlets with BANKING STAFF gives them a brief reprieve. Humor this funny doesn't come this cheap. The tears are literally streaming down my face. I wonder if they wore their suits and heels to look "professional" or met for weeks deciding upon proper laundromat attire to fit the strategy of opening accounts with laundry money.

Says Francisco Cardiel, manager of the Dallas office: "It's a phrase that many Mexicans can identify with. They come here for the American dream. But in their mind, they still think of having their little pedacito de México."

They are thinking right. They need to go back home and get their little piece....there.

"You just want to have something over there where you come from," Mrs. Muñoz says. "And my parents didn't have a house."

Sure why not? Have a home here, have a home there, everywhere a home home. Where are the "poor immigrants", you know the ones the Catholic Church is so worried about? Where are they? The "tired, the poor, the hungy, the huddled"? What a bunch of lying bunk!! They've taken your lives America; they've taken your homes America; they've taken your jobs America...when it is quite obvious they already had all three in Mexico,

More productive

Mr. Cardiel, the mortgage manager, notes that about $20 billion will be sent back to Mexico this year by immigrants in remittances, citing recent estimates by Mexico's central bank. And that money can be productively channeled into homeownership, he says.

Last year if was 16.6 Billion so this is almost a 25% increase in one year of remittances. Either the number of persons increased by 25% or their earnings went up 25%. Did your earnings go up 25%? We're being robbed folks. WAKE UP AMERICA!!

"This is a way to create a patrimony for the family," Mr. Cardiel says. [/quote]

What is this man talking about? A Patrimony for the Family? WHAT IS THAT????

"It is more than money at stake: It is a moral commitment to the family," Mr. Cardiel says.

Right. I wonder if they'll have the same "moral commitment" to all families???

To bolster a client's credit history, Mr. Cardiel tutors prospects on building a six-month history of their U.S. earnings.

GREAT!! Now we have "records" of earnings; a paper trail; this could be good.

First, they must open a bank account and deposit all funds in there, even if they are withdrawn quickly, he says.

Withdrawn quickly...so is this good for the banking business?

The Muñozes, who live in an apartment in Mesquite, say they're very happy with their home purchase. And they're considering buying a second house.

Oh great...another "second homer".

"Allá," Mr. Muñoz says. Back there in Mexico.

Back there in Mexico....it seems they like their country....so why are they here and not "alla"??
_________________

FOLKS....DON'T SPEND, SAVE!! Do not use your debit card. Pay off your credit cards....whatever it takes....use cash to buy only the essentials. Jobs dropped again this month; they are "hurting". Keep your money in your purse; drain theirs.

Move your money if you can to a small bank, break these Money Mongers....I mean when JP MORGAN CHASE is setting up Mobile Bank Units in front of the Mexican Consulates that can be towed away at any time....you know they are desperate and their Castle is about to Crack!!