HuiMfiSllfiA

QO

766 pe

18

JULY|AUGUST 2006

ABA BANK MARKEHNG

Harris Draws Hispanics,

in Part, by Offering Relevant
Financial Products

bv Terry S.Soto

0, Harris Bank recognized thf

i n ^ presence and infliicnce of
nits in tlic Chicago art^a. Harri,s'
'd wa,s convinced tliat working on
a Hi,spaiiic slrategy wa,s tlie ctjiiivalt^nt
of working on llic futuiL' of the hank.
The board assigned responsibility of
the Hispanic strategy to Alberto Azpe,
president of Hispanic banking, Al that
time, [larris f;iced several cliallenges
including lack of bilingual ,staff, marketing materials, a higli turn-down rate for
loan and deposit iiroducts, poor wire
transfer capabilities, limited knowletlge
of hanking services relevant to certainHispanic segments, and low recogni-i
tlon in the Hispanic community of the
Harris hank hrand,
^

assessment
To tieal with the challenge, the hunk
created ii Uisk force, iiickiding memhfis
of \arioLis departments in the hank as
well a.s memlx-rs of its Bank of Montreal
parent company. The institution c o n ducted an external analysis to Linderstand its hrand position among Chicago
Hispanics relative to the competition.
It also commissioned a segmentation

,stLidy to learn ahout Hispanic financial

heha\ior. In addition, Harris analyzed
its hranch locations relatiw to Hi.spanic
conccniraUon and compelilive presence
and iticniitlcd lho,se locations tlia! would
Ix" considered Hispanic hmnches, Hanis
identified tlie upside oppoitiinit}' hy ident i f \ i n g the percentage of Hispanics in
each Zip code where il had a hranch
and compared it to the percentage ot
Hispanics th.it hranch had as CListomei"s, It
I(X)ked at accoiini holders wiih Hispanic
sLiinumes to Lintierstand accoum lx'ha\ior
and profiles across its hranches.
The internal assessment
Harris was ahle to note the challenges right away, knowing that the lack
of hiiingual staff and Spanish-language
marketing materials w o u l d h a \ e to be
remedied. Feedback IrcMii iis existing
Hispanic accouni hoklcrs [iro\idc'd \alLiahle insights, and ilie hank used account
revenue contrihulion infomiation to create
a re\enLie model and the business ca,se.
The implementation
The h a n k i n g unit was originalKstructured as a .sefiatale husiness line
w ilh iis o w n supjiort slalf and budget.
ABA BANK MARKmNG JULY|AUGUST 2006 19

Below are two promotional brochures written in

Spanish that explain products that were developed by Harris Bank with the Hispanic market
in mind: One describes the bank's money transfer services; the other, free checking.

Envios de Dinero
Harris

Lion Power
Cuenta de
Cheques Gratis

y HARRIS

!l was first thouHlii that this bu.sine.ss

model would ensure the greatest control and would maximize the Hispanic
.strategy's impact in the marketplace.
In fact. tlii,s ,silo structure resulted in
crcatin<^ a separation between Hispanic
hanking and the other business lines.
It basically alienated the unit from the
rest of the bank because it was not visible across the various functions and
businesses. As a result, what set out to
be an integrated effort actually became
an isoiaietl ettort with little support
from the rest of the bank.
Recognizing the necti Tor chaiige,
Azpe cie\elopcd a revised business
case lor upper management to reposition anti restructure the Hispanic banking unit as an integral part of the bank's
business lines and support iLinetions,
Twenty-seven branche.s were redistribLited under the direction of respective
I't'gional vice presidents. The restructuring also platetl key Hispanic banking
unit members in statt positions across
marketing, research and development
and otiier tiepartments, so that each

20

JULY|AUGUST 2006

ABA BANK MARKEHNG

that showed greater elficiencies

through integration. Not everyone was
convinced, but learning thai the Hispanic
banking unit budget wouki augmeni
business-line budgets helped some. A,s
it turns out, the lines of lousiness that are
most relevant to the Hispanic market are
tlie ones tliat provide the greatest support, so goals and implementation have
aligned successfully,
memlx'r became an integral [xiii of each
liLisiness line, representing ihe interest
of the Hispanic banking unit. The roie
of the Hispanic bank president evolved
to working closely with region and biisine.ss-line presidents on overall .strategy,
representing the Hi,spanic strategy' in corporate strategy discussions.
Sutklenly. the Hispanic unit had a
voice acnjss marketing, produa development, human rescjurces, customer service,
information sy.stem.s, finance and retail
branches. Initial reactions were mixeti
and re\<)KeLi arounti tiie financial impact
to each budget. However, these concerns were addressed with business-ease

Azpe says that "having to sell ihe

value of targeting Hispanics is a conlinuous prcxre.ss, but because projects are
planned and coordinated at the execTitive level and implemented by a team
that is strategically positioned across the
organization, it is much ea,sier to implement and manage."
Since 20(.K), when I lanis launc hetl its
,sti;iiegy. it lias fociLsetl its inipleiiienialioii
on supporting its 27 Hispanic bilingual
branches, delivering a aist( )int'r-lnentlly mix
of alternative channel and traditional branch
banking alternatives that help Hispanics
oveRonie a traLlitional fc-ar of fuiiincial institutions, including a bilingual c;ill center, a
website and bilingual A'liVls.

*-

:ni

' ^ ^ Bienvenidos a Servicios Bancarios

Personates

KeonlwCriwiuei

CuBnlaiJ*Ch*qtMiyAhorrM
^

ride plareJinncnpailoreidecuenlasflecne^ueiyOe
finAfAwOBaeqyrnBiiBbqncqnjttnn
(lenlbliaaa
,. ^ i i' i i a i Flipaewpnewllcao!onelivSuiiefMinifl-nienfis
AxGnioilkdiid on Dago rcndimenia,prokecnOn Oe Hbregiroi. y o n i
cvBrHr4Dcfl^tiaperiHj0<i

Locrtuwitaa mm
CiinM;u^pptHaKai;
StQupftftfl
ContacBnoE
if^trasilfl ayud*"'

CuentaE de Mercado d Dinera y CDs

e Dri
Tn IteiiQilidail contnl
cnclmiwin <]s IOB lonacn M O

CridrtosHipotscarios
paia 13QSIaL:er sua rrqif^nmienhli in
mos nitponibJeG fiU^ v Dlras jipQor
'KficrciMilohlpolecano.DrfsiflmiiS
if progniinii para phpiera tomprn dc
WKiniiui-iDgaginiaiopiMn

Uke many financial institutions heavily oriented toward servicing

the Hispanic market. Harris Bank, Chicago, makes its entire website
avaialbe in both English and Spanish. Above a sample view of the
Spanish version.

In order to acliiL've it,s aLsiomcr .s

goals of makin}4 liic entire buying process comfortaliie UK ils HLspanic customers, Hanls produces culturally relevant
hrochures and poinl-of-sale materials.
Bilingual materials can be accessed by
any branch and the need is determined
locally hy branch managers. The brochures are kept up-to-date and branch
management is tiiade aware when there
are new briK-hures, 'Iliere also are established procedures to announce when
new products and nev.- bilingual support
tiiaterials are available.
Further, Harris ensures that Spanishlanguage capabilities are present across
channels and across business lines with
bilingual bankers in key areas such as
retail, mongage. small business and commercial banking. Harris' human resources team and human resources. The proceand training process is extensive. Any dure focuses on candidate selection criteperson who is hired must pass certain ria and training.
tests, inclutling language tests, Reque.sts
Bilingual position descriptions are
for bilingual personnel come from the
created and everyone is aware of
branch and human resources follows a
what is being sought for the posipre-established pr(K'edure that was jointly
tion, such as language skills, Harris
created by the Hispanic implementation
human resources relies on its alliance

The restrwdurUt^-fyLicedkey f

io tkoA: eA/Jt 'VKtmMtY Iwauae OM. Uute^ral-Mrtaf

e^wk InvUn^ss LUu, represenAm^ the tAvttrestofthe
bJ

um/t.

with the Hispanic Alliance for Career

Knhaticeincnt (HACK) for help with
finding candidates. Applications are
submitted to Harris online and candidates arc then turned over to HACE
for evaluation; if they pass the initial
screening, they are referred back to
human resourcesforthe interview proABA BANK MARKEnNG JULY|AUGUST 2006 1\

ces,s. A Spanisli-langLia^e as,st^s,s[nf nl is

conducted during the inter\ icw.
Harri.s conducts its training through
an integrated internal program called
Institute for Learning, which inckides
classes to teach Spanish to bank employees. Employees chcK)se from a catalog of
courses and the program is continuously
available. Classes tiiKus on teaching financial tcniiinokigy in Spanish,
Additionally, employee participation on
a diversity council to provide training to
eveiyone at the bank is encoLir.igc'd, Tlie
hank found that the council siicccssfulK
generates aftlnity groups,
Harris also took steps to customize a series of products and incorporate
new ones lo make its offering relevant
to the Hispanic consumer. Tliese products include a certificate of deposit (CD)
secured loan product, a specialized

wire transfer service, acceptance oi the

{-farm

mi/S

oMetO

Mexican identification card and a lirsttime borrowers program. Additionally,

the bank worked with its community
relations department to create
nity paiinerships and financial literacy

programs induding bilingual scmmars

L^^^^

in money management, first-time home

purchasing, checking account management and investments.
Further. Harris learned that newHispanic immignints rely heavily on physical locations, so it has focused strong
efforts in inner-city and minority neighl^orhiKxl branches, Tlie bank reaches out
to these customers through later hours
during weekcUiys and weekends.

\ ^

The results

While Harris has taken an impressive integrated approach to its Hispanic

tfuUtke

Uck

kcun to Ire. revvudleA.

Strategy impleinentalion, Azpc .'VH'.S. "

still learning." Tlie results li^ive Ixs-n notliing short of impressive. Betvveen 2000
and 2002, the initiative's opening pliase, it
increased Hispanic acx-ounts troni "^,500 to
65.0(X)a 766 percent inarase. Today its
Hispanic accounls nLimlx^r aix)Lit lSO.OOO
and growing.
In pait. Hanis creciits if^ cbiw of Hispanic
tiistoniers to relevant pixxliici ofterings, like
ius nione>'-ti-ansfer prtxiuct. and to acceptance of the Mexican identifiaition c-and.
Offering the money-transfer product
as pan of its mix has resulted in a 4S |-)ercenl conversion of nonbanking customers into profitable account holders of two
to three of Hanis" bank products.
Harris also sees continuing improvement of its brand image. And in recognition that Hispanics are nov\- all
over Chicago, not just in pockets, A;^pe
aims to implement vaiying le\ els of the
Hispanic strategy across all of Harris'
almost 200 Chicago branches within
the next two years.

LION POWER
CUENTA
DE CHEQUES
GRATUITA
No se require deposito directo.
Gratis iransatcLones en Cdjcrob Automiticos Hdms (tn K
Grstib ServicJQ Harris de E^^Ai? de Facturas
Vzra ni.is informacii'in llame dl HWK-5

Wis article is excerpted from the huok,

'Marketing to Hispariics: A Strategic
Approach to Assessing and Planning
Your fintiatire. " hy Terry J. Soto.
2006 by Teresa J. Soto. Reprinted by
permission. For information, contact
Kaplan Publishing, Chicago: telephone:
(SOO) 621-962 J. extension 4444 or go
to www.kaplanpublishing.com.

I J HARRIS

How usefur was this article?

Plea.se use the postage-free
Reader Opinion Card provided
in this issue or leave a message
at (202) 663-5075. You can also
send comments by e-mail to
walbro@aba.corn.

y HARRIS
PotJer, Vision. Servicio.

Terry [Teresa] J. Sote is the

presidetit and CEO of About Marketing
Solutions Itic, Burbank, Calif., a muLf-

These two posters are examples of Harris

Bank's efforts to market to the Hispanic
audience. The English translation of the
poster with the lion reads, "Lion Power Free
Checking. No direct deposit required." The
other reads, "Your Matricula Consular enables
you to open an account with us."

cuLturaL strategy consulting company. A

native of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Soto grew
up in Los Angeles. She holds an MBA
from the Graziadio School of Business and
Management at Pepperdine University.
ABA BANK MARKETING

JULY|AUGUST

2006

23