A review of three of the nation’s largest bank by Hispanicmarketing.com indicates an impressive market share of Latinos conducting online banking, but also highlights the need to better engage Latinos in order to increase market share.
According to comScore, nearly 11 million U.S. Latinos go online each month, to conduct their banking- a significant number – but it represents only 32% of all Latinos online. Increased emphasis on online marketing strategies, investing more comprehensively in the Hispanic online market and developing a strong social media presence could translate into growth opportunities.
The three banks reviewed by Hispanicmarketing.com were – Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo.
Bank of America has more than 3.3 million U.S. Latinos on its site each month. Of those, 44% use the Internet primarily in English, 38% in both languages and 18% in Spanish. In terms of Latino online outreach, Bank of America does not have a visible presence on major Hispanic websites, search engines or social media. None of Bank of America’s mobile applications or websites are currently available in Spanish.
At Chase, 2.9 million U.S. Latinos visit its website monthly. It, however, attracts more Hispanics that use the site primarily in English. Of Chase’s Hispanic visitors 55% prefer English, 29% are bilingual while 16% tend to use the Internet mainly in Spanish. Similar to Bank of America, no indication of a proactive Hispanic online marketing initiative was evident.
As for Wells Fargo, 53% of its 2.8 million U.S. Hispanic users prefer to use the site in English, 30% ue both languages and 17% prefer Spanish. Unlike Bank of America, Wells Fargo does not offer Spanish language online banking to customers but does support a financial education initiative called “El futuro en tus manos.” Of the three banks analyzed, Wells Fargo is the only one that appeared to be investing in Hispanic online marketing through buying relevant keywords on Google.
