Profitwise News and Views

December 2003 Special Edition

• Financial Assimilation of Immigrants Conference
• Overview
• Morning Session
• Keynote Speaker
• Afternoon Session
• Afternoon Panel Discussion
• From the Editor
• December 2003 Special Edition (PDF,227KB)

Overview
On June 24, the Consumer and Community Affairs (CCA) division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened, "An Informed Discussion of the Financial Assimilation of Immigrants" in Des Moines. The conference was part of a larger program promulgated by the Chicago Reserve Bank to study the ways and means by which immigrants to the United States access mainstream financial services.

The co-sponsor for the conference was Proteus, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that provides various services to low-income Iowans, primarily farmworkers. Proteus has three Iowa offices where clients can receive education assistance, vocational training, childcare, and health service referrals, as well as homebuyer education.

Helen Mirza, the Chicago Fed's Community Affairs Program Director for the state of Iowa, opened the conference with some background on the role of the CCA division at the Fed. She mentioned that members of the division provide technical assistance to financial institutions regarding consumer regulations such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), Fair Lending and Fair Housing Acts. CCA also conducts outreach to community economic organizations, government agencies, and the academic community, in addition to financial institutions.

Steve Kuehl, the Chicago Fed's Consumer Regulations Director for the CCA division, provided some background on the Emerging Consumer and Compliance Issues unit, and the series of forums that have taken place since the unit was formed in 2000. Primarily, the forums address issues facing disadvantaged communities and populations, and in the past have specifically addressed the Earned Income Tax Credit, provisions of the Gramm, Leach, Bliley Act of 1999, and identity theft.

Note: There has been considerable debate on use of the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" (or "Latina") when referring to the Mexican, Central and South American residents of the United States. The terms Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably in the following conference report reflecting usage by the speakers at the conference during their presentations.