Learning to speak the language
Banks are beginning to focus on Northern Virginia’s ethnic groups

by Jack Milligan
for Virginia Business
September 2006

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me —that I might offer them checking accounts and small business loans!”

Okay, so that’s not exactly how the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, concludes. (The final line of the ode, which can be found on a bronze plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty, is, “I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”) But Northern Virginia has seen its own influx of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa during the past decade, and many of the large regional banks that do business in the state are sizing them up as potential customers.

Hispanics are the one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in Northern Virginia, a demographic trend which pretty much mirrors their growth throughout the rest of the United States. Because they are now an economic force to be reckoned with, regional banks such as Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corp. and PNC Financial Corp. in Pittsburgh — which last year acquired Washington, D.C.-based Riggs National Corp. — and Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corp. are focusing considerable attention and resources on Hispanics in Northern Virginia. In May, a community bank jumped on the bandwagon as well by opening Security One Bank — a bank that targets Hispanics — in Falls Church.

“ We want to make sure we’re good corporate citizens, but it also makes good business sense,” says Jorge Möller, who was hired in April to be the multicultural manager at BB&T. “You have to pay attention to this segment — and if we don’t, someone else will.”

The 2000 U.S. Census found that 11 percent of the population in Fairfax County — Northern Virginia’s economic hub — was of Hispanic origin. Claritas Inc., a San Diego-based marketing information company that consults with BB&T, estimates that Hispanics now account for 12.8 percent of Fairfax’s estimated population of 1.02 million. Claritas projects that the percentage will grow to 14.4 percent by 2011.

Hispanics are even more concentrated in adjacent Prince William County, where Claritas’ data show that they account for 18.3 percent of the county’s estimated population of 360,616. The firm expects that figure to grow to 25 percent in just five years.

The growing Latino flavor in both counties is clearly reflected in BB&T’s branches. In Fairfax County, for example, the bank has 19 branches, 15 of which are focused on the Hispanic community because of a high concentration of Spanish-speaking customers. “We’re definitely seeing a demographic change,” says Möller, a native of Mexico who came to the U.S. to attend Drexel University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in material science engineering and also an MBA.

Interestingly, while Asians actually account for an even higher percentage of population in Fairfax County than Hispanics — 15.4 percent by Claritas’ estimate — that demographic group has not attracted as much attention from banks such as BB&T. One of the reasons for that is the language challenge, according to Möller. While the term “Hispanic” embraces a wide variety of nationalities, all its constituents speak the same language. Asians, on the other hand, are represented by many nationalities speaking different languages — resulting in a more fractured market. Möller expects that most banks — BB&T included — will eventually focus more resources on some of the larger segments of the Asian market in Northern Virginia, with its heavy concentration of Indians, Koreans and Vietnamese. But clearly the Hispanic market offers a more attractive near-term opportunity.

Banks in Northern Virginia are taking a variety of steps to make it easier for ethnic groups to do business with them. PNC, BB&T and Wachovia, for example, try to staff their branches with bilingual tellers. The banks also provide written material in different languages.

Wachovia, BB&T and Bank of America Corp. in Charlotte also provide multilingual ATMs in many Northern Virginia locations. And PNC and Wachovia have multilingual call centers where customers or bank personnel can call for assistance. PNC’s call center uses a third-party vendor — Language Line Services — to handle customer issues in 140 languages. “We can conduct business in any language because of the support capability we have in place,” says Matthew Gracie, PNC’s group segment manager for multicultural banking.

For their Hispanic customers, Wachovia, BB&T and Bank of America offer foreign remittance services which allow customers to send money to people outside the U.S. At Wachovia, for example, customers with Wachovia checking or savings accounts can fund remittance cards from their accounts and send them to family members or friends. Recipients can use the cards at any ATM in the Visa/Plus network.

BB&T also markets a secured credit card to Hispanics who have not established credit histories in this country. The credit card requires the cardholder to deposit a certain amount of money in a savings account as a form of collateral.

Some banks also have made investments in ethnic communities, either to provide education or to support community activities. Wachovia was a sponsor of last month’s Fourth Annual Multicultural Business Conference in Arlington, which targets small, minority- and women-owned businesses (specifically those owned by Chinese, Hispanic, Korean, Vietnamese and Indian families). The bank also has made donations to the Korean American Scholarship Foundation in Vienna. PNC offers Spanish-language seminars on financial planning, running a small business and making a first-time home purchase.

Not to be outdone, BB&T has produced a free, nine-tape series on the challenges many Hispanics face in living in the U.S. Topics include education, taxes, health care and emergency preparedness. The tapes even explain such things as the proper way to behave with a policeman if stopped for speeding. Möller explains that in Mexico it is common for drivers to immediately get out of their cars and approach the policeman, while the normal practice in the U.S. is to wait for the policeman to approach them.
No bank has made a bigger commitment to the Hispanic community in Northern Virginia than Security One Bank. Security One is the brainchild of Jorge Figueredo, the bank’s executive vice president and chief development officer, who had been executive director of the Hispanic Committee of Virginia. The nonprofit organization works with a variety of governmental and private interests to fund social services for Hispanic immigrants.

While working for the Committee, Figueredo began to see a pattern of predatory lending that exploited Hispanics. He began thinking that area Spanish-speaking residents needed a bank of their own. Figueredo sold the idea to William Soza, a Hispanic businessman in Fairfax who in the 1970s was involved in Washington-based Hemisphere National Bank, which catered to the Hispanic community and eventually became part of BB&T. Soza and Figueredo recruited an organizing committee that raised capital and formed the bank. Carl Dodson, previously the COO at Fairfax-based Cardinal Financial Corp., became president and chief executive officer. Soza serves as chairman of the board.

Security One will target consumers and small businesses in the area. The bank has identified 511 businesses with $1 million to $15 million in annual revenue that operate in the Falls Church area, including a growing number of Hispanic-owned enterprises. “There’s a vacuum that needs to be filled —and entrepreneurs that need a bank,” says Soza.

And while the bank will focus on the Hispanic community, it hopes to eventually develop a highly diverse customer base. “We want to be regarded as a community bank first, but with a specific focus on the Hispanic community,” says Figueredo, who knows that to grow, Security One will have to do more than just speak the language. It will have to offer products and services that match up well with its larger competitors since the Hispanic connection will only take it so far. “We want to be the best community bank in the region,” he says.

Still, if anyone should understand how to cultivate Northern Virginia’s new Spanish-speaking residents, it’s Figueredo. A native of Colombia, he came to the U.S. to get a master’s degree in public policy at the University of Maryland. Attracted by the economic opportunity here, he stayed and put down roots. “What has made this country so beautiful is that it’s the land of opportunity,” he says.

America has always been a land of immigrants defined by people like Figueredo, and he wants to make that opportunity available to others. What could be more quintessentially American than that?