MADISON, Wis. — A newly-released study by the Filene Research Institute concludes that most financial services firms do no more than a marginal job of meeting the needs of Latinos.
In Financial Services and Product Usage by Latinos in the United States, author B??rbara J. Robles, Arizona State University and Filene Research Fellow suggests that “Latino families want to know more about and fully utilize financial products and services that seem out of reach or unaffordable.”
Robles' profile of the Latino population includes a focus on education as a means to advance socially and economically. And although Latinos are relatively uneducated about consumer finance issues, they are interested in learning more.
Other characteristics of this young, growing and entrepreneurial population include they tend to be financially underserved, growing in wealth and income, leveraged with high- cost installment debt; and underutilizing savings and wealth-building opportunities, the study noted.
Robles shares publicly available data on the 44.3 million Latino market. She also presents results from a three-year data collection effort that yielded nearly 15,000 survey observations. The survey, conducted in U.S.–Mexico borderland communities during tax preparation sessions, provides a glimpse into the financial behaviors and desires of Latinos in the United States.
“This report offers several practical suggestions on how credit unions can effectively serve the Latino market,” said Filene Chief Research Officer George Hofheimer in his executive summary. “Those suggestions include reducing the level of complexity of the credit unions offerings; understanding the fundamentals of being culturally appealing; and perhaps most important, partnering with local community-based organizations that serve as advocates for the Latino population.”
Hofheimer goes on to point out that the notion of meeting the needs of an untapped market is “at the very core of this study.” Through data analysis and on-the-ground study, Robles presents a compelling case for financial services organizations to help bridge the knowledge gap for Latinos who want to understand and use mainstream financial products and services, Filene said.
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