Phase 2 Interviewer Guide NPO Not Bank Partner

Protocol for Phase 2 Interviews with Non-Profit Executives

Version B: Organizations that Do Not Partner with Banks in Phase 1, but which Do Have Experience with or Perspective on their Efforts

My name is __________________, and I work for a research company called ICF International. [As appropriate: With me is __________ from the FDIC.] As we mentioned in our email/letter, we are conducting a research project for the FDIC to learn more about the variety of ways that financial institutions, nonprofits, and local government agencies are encouraging unbanked and low- and moderate-income (LMI) consumers to open and maintain bank accounts. We have asked to speak with you because we want to learn more about your organization’s engagement in this area, particularly, but not exclusively, with regard to initiatives involving banks. We are particularly interested in your perspective on [insert name of initiative that we know your organization is familiar with]. We would also like to discuss any broader insights you have about how banks and their partners can better meet the needs of these consumers. Your input will inform a report that we will provide to the FDIC highlighting promising strategies, as well as best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from organizations such as yours along with banks and other organizations.

We are interested in learning about successful products, programs and strategies as well as any approaches that turned out to be less effective so that we can benefit from what was learned from those efforts. To help focus our discussion, however, I want to make clear that this research project is targeted specifically on strategies that encourage unbanked and LMI populations to open or retain insured deposit accounts at banks. While there may be other initiatives that target other populations, or that focus on other financial services, those are not the focus of our discussion today. Do you have any questions about the purpose of this interview or what topics we would like to focus on?

I want to make clear that responding to these questions is voluntary, and even if you agree to this interview you are not obligated to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer.

If it is acceptable to you, I would like to record our conversation so that I can refer to it later when writing our report. We will share transcripts or recordings of this discussion with the FDIC. ICF and the FDIC will not share any information publicly about specific programs without prior consent. Do you have any concerns with any of this?

Great—then let’s get started. I expect that this interview will take between 60 and 90 minutes.

1. Review of Information Provided through Pre-Interview Questions

Phase 2 participants will be asked to submit answers to a short set of questions in advance of the interview. The interviewer should begin by getting any necessary clarifications to their answers to these questions, and asking any follow-up questions that present themselves.

2. Previously-Identified Approaches

In preparation for these interviews we conducted an introductory scan of the field. During the course of that scan we learned about XX bank’s YY product/strategy. We have talked with XX bank about YYY . I’d like to start this interview by asking about this/these specific product(s)/strategy(ies). that we understand your organization is familiar with.

For each product/program/strategy that was identified before the interview, ask the following questions:

[Give a brief description of the initiative]. I’d like to ask you a few questions about this product/program/strategy.

1. When and how did you first learn about bank XXX’s product/program/strategy?

2. From your perspective, what barriers to consumers developing and maintaining a banking relationship do you think this product/program/strategy tries to address? How did they go about addressing these barriers?

3. Please describe your organization’s experience with or perspective on bank XXX’s product/program/strategy.

   1. Probe if not mentioned: Is the bank addressing the right barriers to opening and/or retaining deposit accounts? If not, why and what other barriers would be important to address?

4. When have you provided feedback on bank XXX’s product/program/strategy, and what motivated you to do so at that time(s)?

   1. What feedback did you provide? How did you provide this feedback?

   2. Did your feedback result in any changes to the product/program/strategy? If yes, how did it change?

5. Are there any partnerships or collaborations between bank XXX and other organizations, like nonprofit organizations or local governmental agencies, that you believe have contributed to the effectiveness of this effort, in either the planning or implementation stages?

   1. In what ways have these partnerships or collaborations been instrumental?

6. How did bank XXX and its partners raise awareness of this product/program/strategy among the target population (LMI or unbanked subgroups)? How effective do you think these efforts were? [Why?]

7. Were there any steps that bank XXX and its partners took to help increase the engagement and trust of the target population? If so, what steps did they take? How well do you think these steps worked?

8. How effective do you believe this product/program/strategy has been in attracting unbanked and LMI consumers to open and maintain deposit accounts? Note to interviewer: Please refer to “opening” or “maintaining” deposit accounts as appropriate, depending on the specific initiative being discussed. If the initiative might impact both opening and maintenance of a deposit account, then be sure to ask about each of these separately.

   1. In what ways has it been particularly effective?

   2. In what ways has it been less effective?

   3. Are there any populations with whom it has been particularly successful? Why do you think the initiative has been successful with these populations?

   4. Are there any populations with whom it has been less successful? Why do you think the initiative has been less successful with these populations?

   5. On what are you basing your comments about the initiative’s effectiveness? Do you know of any data that can speak to its effectiveness?

9. Are there specific changes that you believe the bank and its partners could make that would make the product/program strategy more effective at attracting unbanked and LMI consumers to open and maintain deposit accounts?

10. What advice would you offer to organizations that are considering beginning initiatives/using approaches similar to this?

3. Other Approaches

Now that we have discussed all the efforts and approaches that I specifically wanted to ask about, I want to give you an opportunity to discuss other approaches in the field, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. We are particularly interested in any initiatives on which your organization partners or collaborates with banks.

11. What other approaches has your organization used to try to encourage unbanked or LMI consumers to open deposit accounts, or to keep them open once they are established? Please include any approaches that your organization has discontinued, or approaches that were found to be ineffective.

12. What other approaches do you know of that financial institutions or other organizations have used to try to encourage unbanked or LMI consumers to open deposit accounts, or to keep them open once they are established? How effective have they been, and why?

4. Conclusion

We are just about at the end of the interview, but before we finish I wanted to give you an opportunity to provide any final thoughts you have on this subject.

13. What do you think are the most important points for organizations to consider as they try to encourage unbanked and LMI consumers to open and retain accounts?

    1. What do you think are the biggest challenges that organizations face in their efforts to develop a banking relationship with these consumers? How can those challenges best be addressed?

14. What do you think are the most important barriers to unbanked and LMI consumers’ developing and maintaining a deposit account with a banking institution? How can these barriers best be overcome?

15. What advice would you have for nonprofit organizations that are trying to better meet the needs of unbanked and LMI consumers?

Thank you very much for your participation, on behalf of both ICF and the FDIC.

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