National Credit Union Administration
1775 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3428
Phone: (703) 518-6330
Web Address: http://www.ncua.gov/

Media Contact: Steve Bosack
Phone: (703) 518-6305
Fax: (703) 837-2953
Email: sbosack@ncua.gov

NCUA News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Matz Posts “Latino Connection Kit” on NCUA Website

NCUA Board Member Presents Ways to Connect with Latinos

September 29, 2003, Alexandria, Va. – Credit unions looking for ways to reach America’s largest and fastest-growing minority can now access a free “Latino Connection Kit” posted by National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board Member Debbie Matz on the agency’s website.

The kit features detailed descriptions of how leading credit union organizations have succeeded in serving Latinos in their communities. These descriptions appear in presentations from nearly two dozen panelists at Matz’s latest Partnering and Leadership Successes (PALS) workshop, “Making the Latino Connection.”
The presentations offer practical advice such as:

How to overcome many recent immigrants’ distrust of financial institutions;
How to get involved in Latino communities;
How to partner with other organizations that serve Latinos;
How to market to this diverse ethnic group;
What services are most attractive to Latinos, and
What forms of identification may be used to open accounts.

“ Latinos are approaching $600 billion in purchasing power -- but only half have relationships with formal financial institutions,” Matz emphasized. “Serving Latinos is an opportunity to reach millions of new members without competing for members who are already enrolled at other credit unions.”

To access the Latino Connection Kit, log on to: http://www.ncua.gov/org/ncua_board/PALS/LatinoConnectionKit.htm.

Users can download the online kit to create their own CD containing all the presentations. The kit is also available on a CD from NCUA’s Office of Public and Congressional Affairs at (703) 518-6338.

A 23-year public service veteran, Matz is a member of three credit unions and resides in McLean, Va. with her husband and two children. Before her appointment to the NCUA Board, Matz was appointed by President Clinton as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration in the Department of Agriculture.

The National Credit Union Administration, governed by a three-member board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, is the independent federal agency that regulates, charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the savings of more than 80 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.