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A southern Illinois bank has taken an uncommon path to meeting the needs of under-served customers with its recently opened branch.
The office, in the heavily Hispanic St. Louis suburb of Fairmont City, 111., is completely bilingual. Opened in November 2015, the branch provides products and services specifically catering to the needs of the Hispanic population, helping families cash checks, save money, access car loans and achieve home ownership.
For its Fairmont City location, TheBANK of Edwardsville was one of two Midwest banks honored by the American Bankers Association for community commitment (see News and Views item on p. 38).
When the bank started planning the branch, it knew it would have to make sure it had the products to serve the area's demographic, said Rob Schwartz, senior vice president of retail banking at the $1.8 billion bank. Those products include a checking account with flexible criteria...