Mainstreaming Milwaukee's Underserved

January 19, 2011

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), today announced the launch of the Milwaukee Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AEI), the latest in a series of initiatives designed to increase access to affordable financial products in specific markets.

According to the FDIC's 2009 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, roughly 17 million adults living in 9 million households are unbanked; an estimated 43 million adults (21 million households) are under-banked.

Approximately 63,000 households in metropolitan Milwaukee are unbanked and 81,000 are considered under-banked, according to the FDIC's research.

The Milwaukee AEI coalition consists of 21 financial institutions, academic and community organizations, and others on a mission to create affordable financial products, promote banking relationships and expand financial education among the unbanked and underserved.

The WWBIC is official organizer of the coalition. The company's Chief Visionary Officer/President, Wendy K. Baumann, said the goal for Milwaukee, short term, is to "create opportunities for more than 400 Milwaukee consumers to have sustainable banking relationships in 2011."

The Milwaukee AEI is the 15th such coalition pulled together by the FDIC and focused on outreach to unbanked and under-banked populations in a diversity of markets, including urban, rural and minority communities. Similar initiatives that predate Milwaukee include Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston and New York.

The most recent data provided by FDIC shows nearly 1,000 financial institutions participate in AEIs. In 2009, 26 participating banks were offering remittance products, 35 were working on micro-loan products and more than 110,000 consumers had received financial education through AEI participating organizations.

"Access to an account at a federally insured institution provides households with an important first step toward achieving financial security - the opportunity to conduct basic financial transactions, save for emergency and long-term security needs, and access to credit on affordable terms," Sandra L. Thompson, Director of the FDIC's Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection.

You can check out the FDIC's AEI Web pages here.

17.2% of Americans reported carrying prepaid debit cards in 2009

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