This explains alot. Guess they’re not really “in the shadows.”

“President Rick Wadley, president of Bank of America, New Mexico, said his and other traditional banks are working on education efforts that could eventually attract some of the population that currently relies on high-fee check cashing,” according to the New Mexico Business Weekly.

“Indeed, Bank of America and others are actively conducting community outreach, particularly to the Hispanic market. In addition to being the majority population in New Mexico and the fastest growing population in the country, Hispanics comprise 35 percent of the population not affiliated with a bank and are three times as likely as the average adult not to use a bank, according to a 2006 Scarborough Research study.”

And we know the banks don’t care about immigration status. No green card? No problemo. Only “green back,” even if it’s wet.

Thirty-five percent of the Unbanked population is Hispanic. Hispanic consumers are nearly three times as likely as the average adult to be Unbanked. There are several possible explanations as to why Hispanic consumers are more likely to be Unbanked*. They tend to be younger than the average adult. The median age of the general market is 45, while the median age of the Hispanic market is 35. More than half of U.S. Hispanics (52%) are foreign-born. Unbanked Hispanics are even younger and newer to the U.S. than the average Hispanic consumer. This suggests that Hispanics’ Unbanked status may be driven by temporary circumstances – youth and recent U.S. arrival. As Hispanics grow older, accumulate more wealth, and become more acculturated, the opportunity to begin using banks for a wide variety of services will also increase.

*[CC Editor's Note: The fact that many are illegal seems to escape this study's grasp]

“The banking industry is at the onset of a perfect storm to increase market share among Hispanics,” said said Karla Horton, manager, advertiser marketing services, Scarborough Research. “As the Hispanic market grows, their time in the U.S. increases, and their age and earning power goes up, they will be using financial services at an ever-increasing rate. Those banks that target Hispanics today are going to be tomorrow’s market dominators.”

Targeting Hispanic consumers has an even greater potential for banks. Hispanics are more likely than the general market
to be Unbanked, but these consumers are even younger than the average Unbanked person. This, coupled with the fact
that Hispanics as a whole are less likely to have all types of financial services, has left numerous opportunities for banks and is the beginning of a “perfect storm” of opportunity for banking institutions.

It’s all about the dinero. Short-term corporate profits trump long-term costs to our country. The storm is growing indeed…

With reports like this and many others like it, no wonder immigration reform is being influenced by special interests vs. the public interest. Selling to illegal immigrants is big business — and even bigger if they’re given amnesty. Connect the dots.

Scarborough Research measures consumer lifestyles, demographics, shopping patterns and media behaviors. In this report, the focus is on consumers who indicate in our study that they do not use any financial institution in their household for banking or financial services. According to Scarborough Research (PDF), five percent, or more than 10.2 million adults, are “Unbanked”.

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