Banks are institutions that are key for understanding how the economy operates in today’s society. They are structures that allow financial resources to be transferred between different agents. In a context in which some agents are faced with a shortage of said financial resources while other agents enjoy a greater abundance, banks act as intermediaries between both parties and work to meet their needs, always under a set of predefined conditions that ensure security for all parties involved. For example, by acting as “guardians” of the savings that individuals and companies deposit in banks, these institutions can help invest financial resources in order to generate returns, grant loans to those who need more financial support than they currently have to carry out a project (for example, to buy a house or open a business) or simply act as a safe deposit to protect the economic profits of other entities. In this regard, banks promote economic development and the evolution of people and societies in which they exist, since they provide the economic means required to generate new jobs, create business activities and invest in improving quality of life.
On the other hand, it is important to note that banks have undergone a significant evolution in terms of their scope of work and the interdisciplinary component that characterizes them today. Since the time when banks were physical establishments that users had to visit in order to carry out their operations and manage their finances, said institutions have fully entered the era of digitization to the extent that many of them choose not to open physical branches and instead operate exclusively on the Internet. This change was possible through the digitization of many processes, such as customer support, the creation of bank cards, the implementation of mobile banking applications, and the possibility of performing transactions online. The main advantage that this offers is the potential to reach more users, the opportunity to engage in operations across different countries, and the capacity to offer a much larger range of services. All these aspects, however, also imply the need to make an effort to ensure correct business activity. One of the most characteristic examples is marketing. Today, banks cannot subsist solely on their inherent activity; they need to make their voice heard and convince potential customers that they can be trusted to manage their finances. For this reason, a large part of banks’ commercial budgets is allocated to advertising and communication actions. This means that banks have to work closely with professionals from other sectors, such as advertising and communication professionals, who help them connect with potential customers to whom their campaigns are targeted.
Translation is another key ally for the banking sector’s growth and success. Given their goal of internationalization, which entails the aim of capturing the attention of foreign customers who wish to invest in Spain, banks are increasingly aware of the need to offer their services and their support in the languages of their customers of interest, since it is a proven fact that receiving advertising in one’s vernacular language reports a higher acceptance rate and is behind a more positive response. But do banks really depend that much on translation? The answer is yes, without a doubt. Just by taking into account marketing and user experience efforts, we could highlight the need for banking translation in several areas, such as: websites (a potential customer’s first contact with the entity; if they do not understand what is offered or do not feel welcomed, they will only feel a sense of distrust), blogs (where we can keep customers up to date with our progress), the intranet (essential, since it is the interface that allows users to navigate the bank’s application and carry out their operations, for which they must perfectly understand the content), promotional videos and social media (where attention is creatively drawn to the advantages offered by a particular bank in a way that generates interest). Furthermore, banks generate a large number of financial, technical and legal documents that must be submitted, already translated, to interested parties for official or legal purposes, such as mortgage loans, policies, bank account contracts, economic analyses and corporate reports. And, moreover, users have the right to access the financial information that affects them so that they can fully understand it. All this only demonstrates the enormous potential that translation has to boost the corporate image of banks and expand their scope of action. Therefore, localizing the content of a financial institution into new strategic languages is the logical step to reach new horizons and increase profits from the business activity.
To do this, we must emphasize the need to have professional translators specialized in each of the fields required by the localization strategy. Do I need a specialist in economic texts to translate reports? A legal translator to localize service contracts? Or perhaps a profile more oriented to produce creative advertising translations that draw the attention of our target customers? At Montero Language Services, we have a directory of professionals specialized in the most diverse areas in order to offer the highest quality language services based on the needs of each institution.
Image reference: https://pixels.com/featured/1-mr-monopoly-art-sledjee.html
