Rubén Hinojosa: “recently, I held my Fifth Regional Leaders Issues Conference in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Over…”

“recently, I held my Fifth Regional Leaders Issues Conference in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Over 140 of my constituents attended the conference, including: elected officials, presidents of universities, educators, heads of Chambers of Commerce and other community leaders in the 15th district of Texas. On Tuesday, June 13, 2006, I was honored to have Dr. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, give remarks to the conferees. He referenced data from the Survey of Consumers Finances, which is a triennial survey sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board. The latest survey revealed some discouraging and alarming statistics: households whose income placed them in the bottom fifth of the population were less likely than the average respondent to maintain a checking or savings account; almost 25 percent of those families were ``unbanked,'' compared to less than 10 percent of families in the other income levels. According to the survey, reasons given for not having an account varied: Some respondents said they would not write enough checks to make having an account worthwhile, but others were dissuaded by minimum balance requirements or said that they did not have enough money to justify opening an account. Chairman Bernanke stated that, in some cases, a lack of knowledge about the services that banks offer including deposit insurance or even a misunderstanding of the important role banks play in our economy.…”