February 26 2026

The Limited-English-Proficiency Customer Conundrum

If your bank markets to a group in a non-English language, but you don't service all aspects of that product in that language, you're asking for regulatory trouble. So some institutions avoid marketing in non-English languages. All well and good, however regulators want banks to make credit more available to communities in their markets with limited-English proficiency by advertising in their languages. Simple to translate an ad, right? But then there's the expectation that you'll offer the entire servicing experience in those languages. And thus you have your conundrum. [9/22/15]