Yes, Please: Banco Sí Speaking Customers’ Language

Pictured above: The Hispanic community in Northwest Arkansas has responded favorably to Banco Si’s presence.

As Banco Sí approaches its first anniversary, the Rogers-based bank has a lot to celebrate. The newest division of Signature Bank of Arkansas is the first dedicated bilingual bank in the state with a full staff that is fluent in Spanish and English.

The newest location officially opened its doors in September 2022 in the heart of one of Northwest Arkansas’ largest Hispanic communities. During its first year in business, this location has been so well-received that Signature is already planning a second location in Springdale, set to open later this year.

Tori Bogner

Tori Bogner, Signature’s senior vice president for marketing, attributes the bank’s success to its determination to reach customers where they are, all while being approachable and available for real in-person conversations in people’s native language.

The mode of operation goes further than having a translator on site or a bilingual teller behind the counter, she said. The mission is to offer an entire banking experience in Spanish or English, whichever the customer prefers, and there is an increasing number of Spanish-speaking customers to serve. The Hispanic community has grown right along with the region.

Karinna Rodriguez, Signature’s business development officer, and Gary Head, Signature CEO, interacted with customers at the bank’s Grand Opening Block Party.

In 1990, the region had a population of just under 240,000, and just 1.3 percent of it was comprised of Hispanics or Latinos, per the Northwest Arkansas Council. Fast forward to 2022, and the region is home to more than 581,000 people with 17.9 percent — more than 104,000 — identifying as Hispanic or Latino.

“We wanted to alleviate the need to have a translator and allow people to have that one-on-one conversation in the language they’re comfortable with, whatever realm of the banking world you need to deal with,” Bogner said.

In essence, a customer could walk in, make a deposit with a teller, then sit down with a lender and go over loan options or even talk directly with the bank manager if there were any concerns — all with the confidence of a person speaking in their native tongue. Effectively, Banco Sí is giving a voice to people who might otherwise feel disconnected from their surroundings because of a language barrier.

To further reach out to the growing Hispanic community, the Banco Sí team has taken a hands-on approach to marketing, finding it much more effective than traditional advertising. Throughout the year, employees have attended events throughout the area, actively engaging people in one-on-one conversations to explain their offerings.

“People are responding better when we’re somewhere in person,” Bogner noted. “There’s only so much you can say in an ad before you have to include a bunch of fine print in there. That’s challenging as a marketer for the financial industry, putting a good message out without having to use half of your ad space with fine print and technical jargon that intimidates people, so those conversations are really key.”

Bogner recalled one instance in which she was standing outside the bank with some of her coworkers while a local TV station was filming a segment, and they noticed that a passerby had stopped to listen to the interview. Once they were done filming, the man approached Bogner and her coworkers to ask questions about Banco Sí, He told them he and his wife had just moved to the area and that his wife, who had recently arrived from Peru, did not speak English but wanted to open a bakery.

She dreamed of having a location where she could sell her Peruvian baked goods but had no idea how to make that dream a reality, he said. The only options she could see in front of her were to either sell items out of her home or through social media. He was excited to hear that there was a bank where she could sit down with a lender who could help her align everything she needed to get her small business up and running.

Loans have become a common topic of conversation, which is why Banco Sí hosts several financial literacy classes and engages in as many in-person discussions as possible, Bogner said. Many people in the community are unfamiliar with the intricacies of lending, especially when it comes to loans for education or mortgages. There is a common belief in the Hispanic community that college is either paid for by student scholarships or cash, and many don’t know that a personal bank loan can be applied to college tuition.

In the case of mortgages, “A lot of folks in this community don’t realize you can buy a home without having to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash,” Bogner said. “We’re helping people realize their dream of being able to own a home by learning about credit and how mortgages work and how you can leverage your good financial standing to get into a home without having to put all the cash up front.

Banco Sí staff engaged with community members at the Grand Opening Block Party.

“This changes people’s lives on a daily basis. If you can go from renting to owning and building equity in your home, it’s just a game changer for your financial situation.”

With the launch of its new division, Signature Bank has, of course, experienced a learning curve. Bogner said the bank has realized a need to work on its messaging, as some customers have failed to understand the connection between Signature and Banco Sí. Part of the reason the bank is going into Springdale so quickly is that a large group of potential customers who live south of Rogers are interested in banking with Banco Sí but have indicated the drive is inconvenient, Bogner added.

In response, the marketing team is working on communicating to customers that the two names are, in fact, the same bank and that customers from Banco Sí can run into any of the Signature locations for their day-to-day needs. Not all branches have a bilingual staff, but customers can deposit and withdraw easily from any of the locations. To fully bring this message across, the bank has been installing new marketing items and creating new advertisements that incorporate both bank logos on everything, so customers can clearly see the connection.

Furthermore, Signature has seen some of the same challenges faced by banks nationwide.

“It’s been an interesting year since March,” Bogner said. That was when crypto-heavy Signature Bank New York was closed in the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history, according to the FDIC. For the most part, Signature Bank of Arkansas customers understood their bank was in no way related to the Signature in Silicon Valley, but the NWA bank was prepared, nonetheless.

“We formulated a game plan from the minute we found out they were having some troubles,” Bogner said. “When they closed on a Sunday afternoon, we sent an email out to all our customers as quickly as we could get it put together.” The staff was also given a list of FAQs with answers that they could share with customers, as well as statements to provide if needed.

According to Bogner, the bigger issue was one that applied to the entire industry, but perhaps even more so to the smaller banks — and that was the need to assure people that their money was safe at the bank.

Carlos Chicas sports his Banco Sí soccer jersey in the photo booth at one of the bank’s community events.

“The stronger your community is, the stronger your community bank is,” she said, “because that’s truly the difference between a community bank and a large commercial bank. We’re using the deposits we have from our community to reinvest in the community. We’re helping small businesses like the bakery open up. We’re giving loans to folks who want to build a second location for their business so that it can grow and thrive, and when you see those small businesses in your community thriving, your local community banks are thriving too.”

Communicating that message is something the whole industry still is learning to do. In general, banks are becoming better storytellers and making sure people understand the positive role they can play in growing a community, Bogner said.

The first year for Banco Sí has certainly been an exciting one for Bogner. As an outsider to the Spanish-speaking community, she has been impressed by watching the bankers interact with Hispanic customers.

“They’re so fiercely loyal,” she said, explaining that employees often go to great lengths to make sure their customer is well taken care of. “It’s just a totally unique attitude that they’ve got, where it’s almost like they’re all family and they’re working to make sure a loan closes for a beloved aunt or uncle. It’s great to watch how tight-knit and devoted they are to the population and to making sure this community succeeds.”