Step Twelve: Top Ten Lessons from Bank On San Francisco

In 2006, the City and County of San Francisco created the Bank On initiative in partnership with the New America Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and EARN. The lessons offered here are taken from a paper by Leigh Phillips, who has managed the Bank On San Francisco program since its inception, and Anne Stuhldreher, who brought the initial idea for Bank On San Francisco to city leaders and helped lead the planning and start-up period. For more information, you can download Building Better Bank Ons: Top Ten Lessons from Bank On San Francisco.

Top Ten Lessons from Bank On San Francisco

Lessons	Recommendations
Lesson One: Initial research was pivotal to shaping the Bank On San Francisco strategy. It helped initiative leaders (1) understand the target market and the challenges they face, (2) build the business and political cases for the initiative, and (3) set clear goals.	Support local and national market research on unbanked and underbanked consumers. Support research that examines key questions about how to better reach and serve the unbanked and underbanked market. Consider setting goals that measure increases in individuals’ “financial capability” in addition to numbers of start accounts opened.
Lesson Two: Local public officials are well positioned to play a critical and unique role in Bank On campaigns especially by uniting different stakeholders around a common agenda.	Provide financial support and technical assistance to strengthen city involvement in Bank On campaigns. Reach out to local and state elected officials in areas without Bank On initiatives, to encourage them to launch programs.
Lesson Three: A collaborative design process that involves financial institutions, community partners, government leaders and regulatory agencies contributes significantly to partner buy-in and participation. Structured and regular communications with all partners then keep the collaboration and momentum going.	National Bank On initiatives should “set a table” similar to the one that Bank On San Francisco set locally, where a range of participants – financial institutions, community groups, federal agencies and existing Bank On coalitions – can shape the initiative.
Lesson Four: Negotiation and collaboration with financial institutions can be challenging and intensive, and yield inconsistent results across the country.	Develop criteria for financial institution involvement that spur innovation, encourage participation, and create better products for unbanked consumers. Clarify the regulatory guidelines on key issues, such as the acceptance of alternative IDs and options for customers on ChexSystems. Explore product innovations and ways to incorporate them into Bank On systems.
Lesson Five: Establishing successful partnerships with financial institutions requires clear policies and regular communications and training, even though this work is time-consuming and labor intensive.	National providers of technical assistance to Bank On initiatives should develop guidelines for financial institution policies and procedures, and a training manual for branch personnel. Banks and credit unions that join local and national initiatives should provide a letter of commitment outlining their participation agreement.
Lesson Six: Current options for tracking starter accounts opened through Bank On initiatives are inconsistent, unreliable and hard to enforce.	Clarify the definition of a qualified “Bank On” account and recommend the best ways to code and track customers. Set national standards for data collection. Retain regulators as the collectors of account data from participating financial institutions.
Lesson Seven: Financial education is vitally important to the consumers we hope to reach, but developing effective strategies is challenging.	Bank On initiatives can shift from offering financial education, which emphasizes knowledge gains, to financial capability approaches, which emphasize changes in behavior. National Bank On initiatives should encourage experimentation in the delivery of financial education/financial capability approaches. Cities and states can integrate financial education/capability approaches into a range of initiatives that serve low-income people.
Lesson Eight: Bank On marketing and outreach campaigns should leverage strong partnerships, public resources and community connections.	Create templates for marketing materials and websites. Form alliances with national level partners that would help local initiatives.
Lesson Nine: Cities that start Bank On campaigns are well positioned to promote financial empowerment goals beyond account access.	National Bank On initiatives should provide additional supports and incentives for regional coalitions to explore financial empowerment strategies beyond traditional. Bank On campaigns, such as working with new partners (employers, for example) or developing new products, such as payroll cards or alternative payday loans. Encourage the dissemination and sharing of successful models through coalitions like Cities for Financial Empowerment.
Lesson Ten: Local financial empowerment policies can advance and reinforce Bank On coalitions.	National organizations can harness the input and ideas of local Bank On coalitions to advance and inform supportive federal policies. Create ways to document and share promising legislative, policy and enforcement ideas amongst Bank On coalitions.