Great Southern banks on attracting Hispanics

Great Southern Bank is expanding its marketplace both in southwest Missouri and outside its existing 29-branch network.

The Springfield-based bank opened a loan production office in Kansas City last month. But the bank also is reaching out to a growing Hispanic population in southwest Missouri.

Both markets are new ground for the bank, aimed at "focusing on underserved populations and underserved geographic areas," according to Brian Fogle, vice president of community development for Great Southern.

Fogle is spearheading the Hispanic marketing efforts. Those efforts include:

adding bilingual staff members;

a Hispanic marketing campaign named Uniting Borders;

Spanish options in telephone and ATM services;

financial literacy classes for Hispanics through Grupo Latinoamericano; and

Spanish training for Great Southern employees through Grupo Latinoamericano.

According to Fogle, national studies show that 40 percent of Hispanics do not use traditional banking institutions largely because of a lack of knowledge.

"This is a population that isn't used to banking," he said. "They don't know all the services and benefits."

Considering southwest Missouri is home to more than 22,000 Hispanics based on 2000 U.S. Census data Fogle sees an opportune market. That data represents a 300 percent increase in the number of Hispanic residents in southwest Missouri compared to 1990's census. But Fogle points out that the majority of growth occurred in the last five years of the decade.

Furthermore, the nation's Hispanic population is reported to have a purchasing power in excess of about $500 billion, according to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"(The Hispanic population) is growing more quickly than any other market segment," Fogle said. "We really see that as a great opportunity for us to increase our relationships with them."

To capitalize, Great Southern will next month kick off a marketing plan targeting Hispanics. It has hired Bodkin & Associates, an Indianapolis firm specializing in Hispanic marketing, to create awareness of the bank through an educational brochure for Hispanics, print advertisements in El Norte, a bi-monthly Hispanic paper produced in Joplin, and radio spots on "La M Grande," which airs weekends on 97.7 FM. Francisco Soriano is the editor of El Norte and broadcasts the Spanish radio show.

The bank also has teamed with Yolanda Lorge's Grupo Latinoamericano to offer financial literacy classes to area Hispanics, as well as Spanish classes to Great Southern employees, Fogle said. Grupo Latinoamericano is a nonprofit organization representing Hispanics living in southwest Missouri.

Both sets of classes should start in April, but Great Southern has already taken steps to reach area Hispanics.

Since December, the bank has offered telephone service in Spanish and has added four bilingual staff members to its Chestnut Expressway-Benton Avenue branch. Fogle said although most business hours are covered with a bilingual employee, the bank is looking to hire more.

It also has been adding a Spanish option to its ATMs. Fogle said half of the ATMs have the Spanish option and the bank hopes to convert all 130 ATMs by the end of the year.

Lorge is thrilled to have a local bank assist the people she represents.

"It's a welcoming sign, but also an acknowledgement of the purchasing power that Hispanics represent," she said.

That buying power is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2010, according to a U.S. Hispanic Chamber report.

"These people don't only come here to work and to live, but also to buy," Lorge said. "Because they are new to the area, they need to acquire a lot of things. And they need to put whatever they make into a safe place."

Hispanics also, she said, give back to the communities from which they came often through the wiring of funds, which can be an expensive means.

Fogle said Latin America received $23 billion last year in foreign funds from Hispanics sending money home, and $10 billion was wired to Mexico.

To facilitate cheaper transactions, Great Southern has set up "no borders" accounts that transfer money via ATMs. Fogle said there are 7,000 ATMs in Mexico in the network.

The next planned assistance is to offer mortgage services dedicated to Hispanics. Fogle said that could happen within the next several months.

"We see a tremendous opportunity, not just with our initial products more on the deposit side, but working with them to fulfill the American dream of owning a home," he said.

Kansas City lending

While Fogle's efforts are centered locally, the bank's commercial lending department is capitalizing on opportunities in the Kansas City market.

Springfield clients with financing needs in the Kansas City area led to the Jan. 2 opening of the loan production office at 9229 Ward Parkway in Kansas City, said Gary Lewis, vice president of lending.

"It started with expansion of our client base into that market," Lewis said.

Prior to opening the Kansas City office, he said, $82 million in outstanding balances that originated in Springfield were earmarked for use in the Kansas City area.

The response so far has been "quite steady," with $2.6 million closing in January and $7.5 million closing in February, Lewis said.

Great Southern named Cal Glasco vice president of the Kansas City loan production office. Lewis said Glasco has 20 years of lending experience.

However, the loan office doesn't mean Kansas City is a market for a Great Southern branch, Lewis said.

"If it physically made sense to do so and we determined there was demand for such dictated by our success in this loan production office we would entertain those ideas," he said. "It would have to be financially feasible."