经济学人下载:移民金融 未来福地

Finance and economics
金融商业

Banking for immigrants-Far-sighted
移民金融—未来福地

Catering to foreign-born customers is a growing niche in finance
迎合外来国民的金融需求，正逐渐成为金融中的利基市场

MOST banks wouldn't lend to Roberta. She arrived in New York from Mexico with papers but no credit history. But Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union, which specialises in lending to immigrants, gave her advice and a $2,000 loan. She started out selling Mexican food from a cart. She now runs a food truck, employs five people and has plans to expand.
大多数银行不愿意贷款给罗贝塔。她从墨西哥来到纽约的时候，虽然有身份证件，但是却无信用记录。只有专做移民贷款的社区信托联邦信用合作社向她提供了咨询，并贷款2000美元。她最初在推车上贩卖墨西哥菜，如今，她有一辆快餐车，还雇了五名员工，并打算扩大她的生意。

Many immigrants, like Roberta, want to save or start a business. But they struggle to get finance. In America 23% of households headed by a non-citizen, and 35% of households where only Spanish is spoken, have no bank accounts—compared with 8% for the population as a whole. There are multiple barriers: not just low incomes, which make it hard to meet minimum-balance requirements, but also trouble with language, identification and trust.
许许多多的移民希望能经营点生意，或者让自己的生意不致破产，但是融资是摆在它们面前的一道难关，罗贝塔只是他们中的一个。在美国8％的家庭没有银行账户。其中，由非美籍公民支撑的家庭占比23％，只会说西班牙语的家庭占比35％。对于他们来说，生活的困难重重：不仅仅是入不敷出的微薄收入，还有语言、身份和信用上的问题。

Neighborhood Trust is trying to change that. More than half its members are Latino, largely from the Dominican Republic, and many are undocumented. Most of the staff are themselves immigrants, and know their members well: they visit borrowers'businesses often and offer workshops on financial literacy. The hands-on approach keeps default rates low.
社区信托正在尝试改变这种现状。他们的一半客户都是拉丁美洲人，大部分来自多米尼加，很多人还没有证件。社区信托内绝大多数员工本身就是移民，也对其客户非常了解：员工们会经常走访贷款人的生意，并提供金融素质的培训课程。得益于这种手把手的方式，违约（还款）率一直很低。

Other financial firms, in both America and Europe, are also finding new ways to serve immigrants. Some are like Neighborhood Trust—small and community-minded. Others are startups hoping for big profits. Oportun is a good example: the American lender has made loans of $1.9 billion since 2006, mostly to Latinos, using big data and clever algorithms to lend to those without a credit history.
美国和欧洲的其他金融公司也正在为移民探索新的业务方式。有的机构像社区信托一样—规模小而专服务于社区，另外也有指望靠此发财的初创公司。Oportun就是一个好例子：2006年以来，这个美国的贷款公司已经出贷19亿美元，主要客户来自拉美。他们运用大数据和智能算法向没有信用记录的客户借贷。

These firms have several tactics in common. The first is to make it easy to open an account—a process that is often unnecessarily slow and intimidating. Monese, a startup based in London, allows European migrants to open an account by phone with just a photo of a passport and a selfie.
这些公司所用策略有共通之处。第一是便捷开户—通常来讲，开户过程过度拖沓，手续复杂。Monese是一家伦敦的初创公司，他们向欧洲移民提供电话开户服务，只需要提供护照上的相片和一张自拍即可。

A second shared tactic is to make life easier for those, such as illegal immigrants, who may struggle to prove their identity. Banks can be fussy: in one survey half of unbanked Mexican immigrants in New York said a lack of documentation prevented them opening an account. But many American banks will accept taxpayer identification numbers and consular ID cards, which can be obtained irrespective of immigration status. In New York 12 financial firms, including Neighborhood Trust, accept a new card launched by the city government to help undocumented migrants access services—though no big banks do.
第二是给非法移民的生活提供便利，叫他们不必再费尽周折证明自己的身份。银行有时很是小题大做：在某调查中，纽约半数的无账户墨西哥移民称没有身份证明让他们无法在银行开户。但是很多美国银行也接受纳税识别号码和领事身份证。这两项证明不管什么身份的移民都可获得。在纽约包括社区信托在内的12家金融公司接受市政府颁发的新卡，这种卡帮助无证件移民获得服务——不过大银行不会接受它。

Third, instead of waiting for immigrants to come knocking, these firms seek them out. Oportun, for instance, has branches inside shops in Latino neighbourhoods. Mission Asset Fund, a Californian non-profit group, assists informal savings groups in immigrant communities. As members make small, regular payments into a common pot from which they take turns to borrow, they are also able to develop a formal credit history.
第三，与其坐等移民上门，不如出门去找。比如Oportun，在拉美人社区中的商店里设分支机构。加利福尼亚的非营利组织Mission Asset Fund则在移民社区里协助非正式储蓄小组。小组成员定期向共有的总账户存入小笔金额，他们再轮流向总账户借钱。通过这种方式，他们便有了正式的信贷记录。

A final tactic is to tailor services to meet the particular needs of migrants. Extrabanca, in Italy, explicitly markets itself as a bank for immigrants. Many of its customers are from China, the Philippines and eastern Europe. It helps them deal with the red tape involved in renting a house or starting a business. Many American credit unions offer “citizenship loans” to cover the costs of naturalisation. Some offer illegal immigrants loans to pay the fees for amnesty schemes.
最后一点是为移民客户量身打造所需业务。 意大利的Extrabanca公开以移民银行的身份推销自己。他们的很多客户来自中国、菲律宾和东欧。Extrabanca帮助这些客户处理租房和创业时要经历的繁文缛节。不少美国信贷联合机构还提供”公民贷款“，支付移民归化过程中的花费。有的还借贷给非法移民使其免于牢狱之灾。

Larger banks can be put off, at least in part, by regulation. Many have stopped offering international transfers in response to tighter rules on money-laundering and terrorist financing. In Britain, new laws bar banks from opening accounts for illegal immigrants. But some big banks are catching on. Scotiabank, in Canada, allows Chinese migrants to start opening an account before leaving home, through a partnership with three banks in China. Deutsche Bank woos Turkish customers in Germany with a service called Bankamiz (“Our Bank”), which offers bilingual tellers, free withdrawals at ATMs in Turkey and five free transfers to Turkey each year.
大型银行至少会在某种程度上受规则的局限。因对洗钱和恐怖分子集资的规定变严，许多（大型银行）已经停止境外转款业务。在英国，新颁布的法律禁止银行为非法移民开户。但是有的大银行却还在继续。加拿大的Scotiabank银行与中国的三家银行建立合作关系，允许来自中国的移民在离国之前开户。 Deutsche Bank则向在德国的土耳其客户提供名为”我们的银行（Bankamiz）“的服务，包括双语出纳、在土耳其的ATM上免费提款以及每年五笔免手续费的向土汇款。

Catering to immigrants can be profitable in the long run, suggests Sherief Meleis of Novantas, a consultancy. Banks can win customers who will be loyal for years to come. As Rafael Monge-Portaro, the boss of Neighborhood Trust, says of Roberta: “We trust her and she trusts us.”
长期来看，迎合移民的需求是有利可图的，咨询公司Novantas的Sherief Meleis如是说。这样做，银行可以赢得几年内都保持忠诚的客户。正如社区信托的老板Rafael Monge-Portaro所说：“我们与罗贝塔互相信任。”