ATLANTA — Retail design, construction consulting services firmIBT Enterprises has joined forces with Roswell, Ga.-based financialservice solutions provider El Banco Financial Corporation to helpcredit unions better serve the growing Hispanic community.

The partnership is designed to help credit unions reach out tothis often underserved market by offering products and servicesneeded in a culturally sensitive and welcoming branch environment,IBT said.

The turnkey offering includes a retail branching solutionspecifically geared toward the Latino Community from a “streetlevel” canvassing of local Hispanic businesses and one-on-oneinterviews with members of the community to design and buildbranches branded for the Latino consumer/member experience.

In addition, the El Banco platform, Conexi?n El Bancosm,provides a point of sale solution designed to support a mix oftraditional and nontraditional financial services, such as checkcashing services, domestic/international money transfer services,bill payment services and pre-paid phone cards and cell phoneloads.

The Census Bureau estimates that Hispanics currently account formore than 14% of the total population–representing a 22% increasesince the 2000 census. As far as purchasing power, estimates arethat this demographic spends more than $700 billion annually.