A Texas bank that caters to the Asian community will open a full-service branch Sept. 1 in Springfield, its first in the area.
Dallas-based United Central Bank, which opened loan processing centers
in Alexandria and Richmond earlier this year, plans to take full
advantage of what many people see as one of the hottest banking
markets: Immigrants.
Going after the Asian market is not a new practice for financial service companies.
"If you are not marketing to Asians, you are already behind," says
Saul Gitlin, executive vice president at Kang & Lee Advertising in
New York.
There's plenty of immigrant business to go around in Greater Washington.
Nearly 20 percent of the region's population is foreign born,
according the 2005 American Community Survey released by the Census
Bureau, and 36.1 percent of the slightly more than 1 million
foreign-born residents in the area came from Asian countries.
In addition, 24.1 percent of the region's population over the age of
5 speaks a foreign language as its primary language at home.
United Central's new branch will have 10 employees who speak seven
languages including Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Urdu and
Vietnamese.
The bank has begun marketing itself to potential customers through
ads in ethnic newspapers and on cable TV programs, says David Kim, vice
president and business development officer.
United Central Bank will offer checking and savings products, as well as a variety of commercial and SBA loans.
The bank already is active in local SBA lending. It made four loans
for a total of nearly $1 million between October 2005 and July 2006,
according to the SBA.
That makes the bank the 30th most active lender in the Washington area for that period.
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