Bank of America 2005 Annual Report Download - page 17

How We Grow: Innovation
very year, Hispanic residents in the United States transmit billions of dollars to
family and loved ones in their native countries—an estimated $20 billion to
Mexico alone. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2005 nearly half of all
adult Mexican immigrants living in the United States sent money to relatives in
Mexico, often paying fees of up to 10 percent.
In September 2005, Bank of America changed the game completely by offering a free, secure
Building relationships with SafeSend®
Service helps Mexican-American customers assist family and loved ones
E
and easy alternative. Because we simplified and relaunched
the SafeSend® service, any Bank of America customer with
a checking account can send cash to anyone in Mexico—
immediately and free of charge.
The SafeSend service provides cash in Mexican pesos, at
competitive exchange rates, to recipients in Mexico through
more than 3,600 locations. In 2006, the bank will add
900 more locations. No fees, cards or unfamiliar procedures
are required, only proper identification. A patent is pending
on this new remittance process.
This innovation allows Bank of America to attract
many new customers who have never dealt with a bank.
An estimated 50 percent of Hispanics have no banking
experience or relationship with a financial institution. The
SafeSend service provides these customers with a compelling
reason to do business with Bank of America.
With more than 40 million Hispanics in the United States,
the SafeSend service plays an important part in growing our
business in a segment that will account for 60 percent of
the population growth in the bank’s markets over the next
decade. Hispanic purchasing power alone would rank among
the top 10 economies of the world and is growing faster than
that of the population as a whole, according to research cited
by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility.
The SafeSend service is a strategic investment that
attracts and grows customer relationships, and therefore
it is not a stand-alone product but rather a feature of the
bank’s basic checking accounts. Checking accounts with
these added features are free with direct deposit, and they
are proven relationship starters.
16 Bank of America 2005
How we grow through innovation
An essential part of Bank of America’s
long-term growth strategy is the spirit
of innovation in everything we do. At the
heart of our inventiveness are two criti-
cal strands that are consistently woven
together: listening carefully to customers’
needs and desires and building on our
core strengths, such as product diversity,
risk management and technology.
In this section are examples of how
Bank of America is using innovation
to build value for the bank and our
customers. Whether the bank is
leading the way in making online
banking more secure and worry-free
or creating programs to attract and
retain diverse customers, innovation
is key to our efforts.