In California, retail banking faces a unique challenge: it is estimated that 20% of all households operate outside the banking system. San Francisco-based Union Bank of California (UBOC) saw this as an opportunity. “We experimented by opening branches in some very low-income areas, and found that traditional branches offering traditional products with traditional risk protocols were just not making economic sense to our shareholders,” says Richard Hartnack, Vice Chairman of UBOC. “So, we went back to a clean slate and asked ourselves ‘How can we deliver banking services in these communities?'”

The answer was Cash & Save: a retail brand that combines banking products and the services that check cashers offer into a single business solution. In 1993, Union Bank opened the first of its 12 inner-city Cash & Save locations. By 2001, Union Bank found that 40% of the regular repeat check-cashing clients had become banking clients with regular banking products.

UBOC also launched a partnership with Operation Hope, Inc., a nonprofit credit counseling organization and Nix Check Cashing to offer banking services to underserved neighborhoods in the inner city. Twenty-six outlets now offer UBOC banking products along with check cashing. By the end of 2002, 10 more outlets will be added.

“The services we provide are basic, but essential to these communities and the location of these offices makes them a low-cost alternative to traditional banking and check cashing,” says Yolanda Brown, Senior Vice President and Manager of the bank's Cash & Save division. “UBOC's presence in these underserved communities not only benefits the local area, but the surrounding communities as well. Everybody wins.”

Lastly, in an effort to inform Latino immigrants about credit and other financial issues, UBOC is partnering with local nonprofit organizations. In Orange County, California, UBOC is partnering with United Way of Orange County, Neighborhood Housing Services of Orange County, and the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County and conducting a series of financial-fluency seminars aimed at the Spanish-speaking community.

For more information contact Yolanda Brown at Union Bank of California at (213) 236-5700
or Yolanda.Brown@UBOC.com.

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