Underbanked

A group of banking companies in Mexico City launched an initiative last week that they say ultimately could enable consumers to use their mobile phones to make payments at the point of sale and to pay bills using standard text messaging services.

The landscape of financial providers catering to the underbanked has grown and changed dramatically in recent years. Retailers, technology firms, and other nonbanks have elbowed past banks and credit unions to grab a share of the market.

Solera National Bank in Lakewood, Colo., is hoping it can serve predominantly Hispanic consumers and businesses without having to broaden its focus.

Citigroup Inc.'s card division is attempting to broaden its reach among underbanked consumers, and that of its retail partners, through a strategic alliance with Green Dot Corp., a distributor of prepaid products.

Banco do Brasil SA, the largest retail bank in Brazil, wants to use technology from Fiserv Inc. to enter the U.S. retail business, with an emphasis on serving the unbanked and underbanked.

As the nation's Hispanic population continues to swell, more community banks are hiring bilingual employees and offering services such as online and telephone banking in English and Spanish.

The prepaid card marketer FirstView LLC is planning to use a voice biometric authentication system in its phone and online banking systems to combat a perception that its target market, the unbanked, is especially vulnerable to fraud.

Anyone who has ever attended a five-year reunion knows a half-decade usually is not long enough to see much change.

Fiserv Inc. is working to offer its walk-in bill-payment service in branches of banks that are trying to reach the underbanked, a large and potentially lucrative market.

MIAMI — Despite a slowdown in the growth of international remittance volumes that began last year, Wells Fargo & Co. said its remittance business achieved triple-digit growth in the 12 months through May, reflecting what it sees as an ongoing shift to banks from nonbank providers.

MIAMI — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has sold more than 1 million of its prepaid MoneyCards, and customers have loaded more than $1 billion on to them, since they were introduced nearly a year ago, said Jane Thompson, the president of the retailer's financial services business.

The financial services landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade, and understanding the changes is critical to building underbanked initiatives.

Zions Bancorp. said that a five-year-old Zions Bank marketing initiative targeting Hispanics is bearing fruit and that the company is adding new features to the effort.

For years payday lenders have downplayed their profitability, as one might expect from an industry that consumer advocates have long pointed to as predatory.

Online Resources Corp. is linking its network to those of money-services businesses to attract the unbanked and expand its expedited bill payment system.

The Pew Charitable Trusts has started a project to develop and promote bank account standards for the underbanked.

The Treasury Department's blueprint to overhaul the financial regulatory system is aimed largely at macro-level concerns like investment bank oversight and market stability.

Western Union Co. is banking on a major restructuring of its U.S. operations to boost its profit margins by the end of next year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has begun a voluntary survey aimed at assessing institutions' efforts to reach out to underbanked communities.

A company that offers asset-protection devices to auto lenders has introduced a linked prepaid card that could encourage the unbanked to make their car payments on time and also prompt them to make other purchases electronically.