Wine and wheat country find fertile ground serving the unbanked
5/11/2007
Enid, Okla. –While months separate the wheat harvest in Oklahoma from the grape harvest of Sonoma County, financial institutions from these two seemingly opposite agricultural areas found common ground in their desire to serve the unbanked.
That desire led to a recent partnership between the Oklahoma-based Central National Bank and Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank, and now, immigrant workers in northern California can take home and send home more of the fruits of their labor.
For the individual, paper-based payroll often means expensive check cashing fees and long teller lines. For the employer, it means excessive costs, lost time and potential check fraud losses. By offering a payroll card issued by CNB, Exchange Bank felt that they could provide an answer that addressed both the needs of their commercial customers and the needs of the employee.
QUOTE FROM EXCHANGE
The CNB VISA payroll card is multinational and multifunctional, with a built-in remittance feature that allows the cardholder to send money to Mexico and 12 other Latin American countries for $6, a cost far less than the national average. The card is predominantly loaded through standard payroll Direct Deposit or Green Dot, a prepaid debit card load network accessible in large participating retail store chains. In addition to being used as a remittance card, it can be used to make purchases anywhere VISA Debit Cards are accepted, to withdraw cash at ATMs and to make long distance phone calls. The card also has pass-through FDIC Insurance.
“When we designed this card,” said Brud Baker, president of CNB, “we designed it with the immigrant in mind. It is truly priced to the greatest benefit of the cardholder, but is equally beneficial to the employer. And, for financial institutions who want to enter the prepaid card market, it has the tertiary benefit of a new revenue stream for them.”
Financial institutions can drop in one of CNB’s standard payroll, remittance or gift programs, Baker said, or, as was the case with Exchange Bank, a custom program can be designed for them. Exchange Bank’s program is especially unique because they designed a companion card to go along with the payroll card. The recipient of the remittance can go to an ATM and make a withdrawal, or receive a cash payout at traditional money transfer payout locations in Latin America through Bancomer Transfer Services. The beneficiary of the remittance may also make purchases utilizing the companion card.
“Our programs are uniquely flexible, cost-effective and turn key,” Baker said. “We process and issue the card, manage compliance end to end, provide collection and distribution settlement services, and other complex operational functions. Financial institutions can feel secure in dealing directly with us for all their needs instead of dealing separately with issuing banks, card processors and program managers, a model common in the industry today.”
Randy Gutierrez, President of Alianza International, a prepaid debit card and money transfer enabling company providing employer and consumer marketing support for both Exchange Bank and CNB’s program stated “We are pleased with the commitment of both Exchange Bank and CNB to this product and customer base. CNB has a mature and feature rich prepaid debit card and money transfer service with pricing for the immigrant and unbanked cardholder among the lowest in the industry. Coupled with Exchange Bank’s proven commitment to its commercial customer and migrant employee customer base, and their continued commitment to the community in general, we are confident the partnership will provide a much-needed social and commercial benefit for all parties. This is a model that will work for other banks, credit unions, and businesses requiring these unique services.”
About Central National Bank
Central National Bank of Enid is headquartered in Oklahoma and is held by Central Services Corporation. The bank reported assets of over $437 million in 2006. CNB has been issuing and processing prepaid cards since 2000. For more information about any of the Bank’s products, contact Tania Warnock at twarnock@cnb-enid.com or by phone at 580.747-6616.
About Exchange Bank
About Alianza International
Alianza international is headquartered in the San Francisco bay area and is privately held. Alianza International provides international money transfer enabling and prepaid debit card enabling services to financial institutions, credit unions, nonprofit organizations, businesses and microfinance institutions globally through partnerships with banks and licensed money transmitters. For more information contact Blas Romero at blas.romero@alianzaintl.com or by phone at 925-324-8147.