Independent Banker - April 2021 - 27

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customers who primarily or only
speak Spanish.
While many first-, second- and
third-generation Hispanic and Latinx
people are fluent English speakers,
some of them are more comfortable
speaking in Spanish. Depending
on the community, there may be
considerable need for bilingual
services. The U.S. has the highest
concentration of Spanish speakers in
the world outside of Mexico-more
than 50 million people.
To address this reality, and to make
customers feel at ease, banks are
being more deliberate in their hiring.
At The Community Bank, 44% of
employees are bilingual, including
66% of its tellers, Schepers says.
The bank's website has a Spanish
option; it provides loan and deposit
applications in Spanish; its debit
cards can be activated in Spanish;
and Matricula Consular cards, issued
by the Mexican government, are
an accepted form of identification.
Additionally, The Community Bank
has designed a loan product for
the purpose of establishing a credit
history for its customers. The bank
also sponsors Spanish broadcasts of
the local high school's boys' soccer
team, Schepers says.
Eliminating barriers
Face-to-face connections can also be
important in winning new business
from Hispanic and Latinx customers,
according to Miguel Lopez, senior
vice president and chief community
outreach officer at $843 million-asset
Encore Bank headquartered in Little
Rock, Ark., which actively courts
these customers.
As part of his role, Lopez frequently
knocks on the doors of local Hispanicand
Latinx-owned businesses for
relationship-development purposes.
The fact that he speaks Spanish as a
first language is critical for many of
" To ignore [Hispanic and Latinx customers]
would not only be socially unacceptable
but dramatically detrimental to the bank's
economic viability. "
-MARK J. SCHEPERS, THE COMMUNITY BANK
these potential customers whose first
language is Spanish. It makes them
more comfortable, he says, and it
eliminates the language barrier.
Only a small number of community
banks offer a Spanish version of their
website, but this, too, can be critical
to attracting Hispanic and Latinx
customers, because it reinforces the
idea that the bank is committed to
serving them. For example, if Lopez
tells a business owner in Spanish
why the bank is a good fit, but the
website is hard for the person to
understand, it doesn't do the business
owner-or the bank-much good, he
says. Finding ways to better serve the
Hispanic and Latinx market is " good
business, and it's good for business, "
Lopez adds.
Differentiate your bank
In addition to what these community
banks are doing, there are other
options for community banks
interested in expanding into new
markets or campaigns focused on
Hispanic and Latinx customers.
Banks should be more aggressive
about getting out to the community,
such as partnering with business
groups like a local Hispanic chamber
of commerce, says Ramiro A. Cavazos,
president and chief executive officer of
the United States Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce.
Banks should also be more
proactive about using technology to
reach Hispanic and Latinx customers,
Cavazos says, as many are searching
for information online and on
social media about things like small
business loans, particularly during the
pandemic when their businesses are
under pressure.
QUICK STAT
18%
of the U.S. population was
Latinx as of 2017
Source: Pew Research
Especially during COVID-19,
community banks have an
opportunity to differentiate
themselves with Hispanic and Latinx
customers by offering lifelines to
help keep them afloat in difficult
times, Cavazos says. Getting access
to Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP) loans, for instance, has been a
particular challenge and community
banks can make a real difference in
the lives of many of the hardest-hit
business owners, he adds. 
Cheryl Winokur Munk is a writer in
New Jersey.
independentbanker.org Q 27
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Independent Banker - April 2021

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