Mexico to Push Insurance Ed for Immigrants at Chicago Workshop

The Mexico Consul General will discuss joint attempts with the federal government to increase Mexican immigrants’ use of mainstream financial products such as insurance at the Urban Insurance Partners Institute (UIPI) national workshop in Chicago later this month.

Mexico Consul General Carlos Sada will discuss Mexico’s new national initiative, aimed at helping Mexican immigrants make better use of financial services at the workshop, Oct. 28-29.

“Research shows that our immigrants work hard and save money, but they are not fully utilizing their opportunities to build financial security,” Sada said in a statement. “We therefore launched a national initiative, in conjunction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), to help our U.S. immigrants move into the financial mainstream.”

Banks already are attracting a new wave of Mexican customers. A recent survey of 11 Midwestern banks showed 20,000 new bank accounts from Mexican immigrants, with $70 million in new deposits. In the Midwest alone, Mexicans represent a $20 billion economy, and
their buying power is expected to double by 2007. Nationwide, the Hispanic market is estimated at $653 billion. Many of these immigrants live in urban areas.

Several new developments are fueling this growth. The joint initiative by Mexico and the FDIC is promoting access to a variety of financial services, including mortgages, small business loans and credit cards. In addition, Mexico is promoting use of the Matricula, an identification card, which is increasingly accepted by banks and government agencies.

“We are very interested in learning more about Mexico’s initiative,” said Gwen Jones, Emerging Market Development Director of American Family Insurance Co. and UIPI Workshop chairman. “UIPI already has homeowners and small commercial insurance education programs that can help immigrants better understand insurance.”

“Mexico’s leadership has important implications for all lines of insurance,” noted UIPI President Suzanne Reade. According to a recent Milken Institute report, ethnic-owned firms grew more than twice as fast as all firms in the nineties, but these entrepreneurs still do not access the same range of financial services as larger businesses.

“There is tremendous room for growth in commercial, as well as life and personal lines insurance, within this market,” Reade added.

The third national Urban Insurance Advantage workshop is designed to provide life, personal lines, and commercial lines insurers with the tools they need to compete successfully in the urban marketplace. In addition to Mexico’s financial services initiative, urban markets leaders
will cover current topics in marketing research, product and agent development, and building a corporate team; and state regulators will discuss current urban market regulatory issues.