The Economist: In America at least 12 million households have no bank account — are "unbanked," in the industry's ugly jargon. Once unnaturalised immigrants and the "underbanked" — an even uglier term for those with a low credit score or none — are added, some estimates exceed 40 million. For years, banks did not look on these people as potential customers at all. No surprise there: banks see little profit in the poor and the poorly educated.
But this is changing. Last month Citibank announced a partnership with 7-Eleven, a large convenience-store chain, to put its brand on more than 5,500 in-store cash machines, some of which are self-service kiosks, for wire transfers, cheque cashing and bill payment. This takes Citibank into areas where it has no branches, but it also allows the behemoth to serve those without bank accounts.
