Does Training for Banking Representatives Reduce Barriers to Migrants’ Access to the Financial Sector in Colombia?

People waiting in Cartagena street to enter a bank, Bolívar Colombia. ©2020, Luz Zuluaga from Shutterstock

In collaboration with IPA Colombia, Oportunidades Sin Fronteras and Asobancaria, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to assess pre existing prejudices and whether training for banking representatives can reduce xenophobia and bias against migrants.

Colombia hosts nearly three million Venezuelan migrants, which is the highest number in Latin America and the Caribbean.¹ More than 2.5 million have registered with Temporary Residence Permits (PPT), the first step towards socioeconomic integration. However, only 26.3 percent of Venezuelans have access to Colombia’s financial sector.² Their inclusion is hindered by several barriers from financial institutions, including a lack of information about regulations for migrants, biases against Venezuelan migrants, and insufficiently tailored customer services. Oportunidades Sin Fronteras, a USAID project aiming at promoting financial inclusion of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, and Asobancaria, a union of most commercial banks in Colombia, developed a training program for banking representatives of financial institutions seeking to include Venezuelan migrants in their client base.

In partnership with IPA Colombia, Oportunidades Sin Fronteras and Asobancaria, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to assess pre existing biases and whether this training can reduce xenophobia and bias against Venezuelan migrants. The training consists of sessions on awareness and the migratory context, information about the PPT, and commercial and soft skills. The evaluation includes 194 banking representatives from 38 bank branches across 14 cities in Colombia. The banking representatives were randomly assigned to receive the training or serve as the comparison group. Researchers measured indicators including confidence, empathy, implicit and explicit biases and adoption of the training.

Results will be available in late 2025.

Sources

¹ “Colombia’s Refugee Crisis and Integration Approach Explained.” n.d. www.unrefugees.org. https://www.unrefugees.org/news/colombia-s-refugee-crisis-and-integration-approach-explained/.

²“Encuesta Pulso de La Migración (EPM).” n.d. Www.dane.gov.co. https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/demografia-y-poblacion/encuesta-pulso-de-la-migracion-epm.