Wachovia bids for more Hispanic customers

In an attempt to make itself more attractive to Hispanic consumers, Wachovia Bank is offering some new services, including Spanishlanguage bank statements and a different way to transfer funds to Latin America.

A foreign remittance card that can be used at ATM machines across Latin America is one of the services in the bank's "Cuenta con Todo" or "account with everything" package of services. They are, for the most part, the same services offered to other customers, but with the addition of bank statements and information offered in Spanish, a spokeswoman for the bank said.

The bank, which has 38 branches in Westchester County, is also planning to make some branches completely bilingual, from the tellers to other bank officers, including loan officers able to make loan decisions on the spot, said bank spokeswoman Fran Durst. Durst could not say whether the bank has immediate plans for establishing those Spanish-friendly branches in Westchester County.

The bank's "Dinero Directo" foreign remittance card allows money to he transferred through ATM machines in the Visa/PLUS network of automated teller machines across Latin America and the Caribbean.