Harris Bank recognized the growing Hispanic presence in Chicago and developed a Hispanic banking strategy. They conducted research to understand Hispanic financial behavior and identify opportunities. They restructured the unit to better integrate it within the bank. This allowed the unit to implement culturally relevant products and services, become more visible, and increase Hispanic accounts from 7,500 to 65,000 between 2000 and 2002.
Harris Bank recognized the growing Hispanic presence in Chicago and developed a Hispanic banking strategy. They conducted research to understand Hispanic financial behavior and identify opportunities. They restructured the unit to better integrate it within the bank. This allowed the unit to implement culturally relevant products and services, become more visible, and increase Hispanic accounts from 7,500 to 65,000 between 2000 and 2002.
Harris Bank recognized the growing Hispanic presence in Chicago and developed a Hispanic banking strategy. They conducted research to understand Hispanic financial behavior and identify opportunities. They restructured the unit to better integrate it within the bank. This allowed the unit to implement culturally relevant products and services, become more visible, and increase Hispanic accounts from 7,500 to 65,000 between 2000 and 2002.
Harris Bank recognized the growing Hispanic presence in Chicago and developed a Hispanic banking strategy. They conducted research to understand Hispanic financial behavior and identify opportunities. They restructured the unit to better integrate it within the bank. This allowed the unit to implement culturally relevant products and services, become more visible, and increase Hispanic accounts from 7,500 to 65,000 between 2000 and 2002.
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
