Why Website Translation is a “Must Have” for Most U.S. Financial Institutions

Providing an Accurate, Multilingual Experience

Given the increasing linguistic diversity across the United States, banks and credit unions must account for a wide range of language needs when designing or enhancing their website. From individuals opening their first account to those exploring lending products, the demand for clear, inclusive digital experiences is growing rapidly. This is especially true when it comes to serving the Spanish-speaking population within the United States.

The need to offer an accurate multilingual digital experience is fueled by three converging forces:

1. Shifting regulatory priorities
2.  Rising demographic diversity
3.  The clear business case for serving underserved audiences in-language.

While tools like browser translation or Google Translate offer surface-level convenience, they fall very short when it comes to accuracy, compliance, security, and trust. Explore the business opportunity behind website translation, key regulatory factors to watch, implementation pitfalls to avoid, and what to look for in a modern multilingual website.

Why Translating Your Website for U.S. Hispanics Is a Strategic Imperative for Credit Unions and Banks

Nearly 25% of U.S. Hispanics are unbanked or underbanked, representing a major untapped market. At the same time, the number of Hispanic households earning $100,000+ has grown more than 300% since 2001, and Hispanic-owned businesses are driving record demand for loans, credit, and financial education.

Despite being one of the most digitally engaged audiences in the U.S., Hispanic consumers remain underserved and under-supported by financial institutions. The gap starts with data-driven knowledge:

• 45% say they are slightly or not at all financially savvy, compared to 31% of non-Hispanics.
• Only 54% demonstrate basic financial literacy, versus 69% of non-Hispanics.
• Just 24% contributed to a retirement account in the past year, and only 53% have an emergency fund, compared to 67% of non-Hispanics.
• 29% have less than $1,000 saved for emergencies—more than double the rate of non-Hispanics.
• But this gap isn’t driven by disinterest, it’s driven by a lack of access.

In fact, U.S. Hispanics are actively seeking out financial guidance online:

• 51% prefer digital platforms like apps, websites, and social media to access financial information.
• 24% turn to platforms like TikTok and Facebook for financial advice, compared to just 17% of non-Hispanics.
• Only 17% use traditional media for financial information, and just 22% seek advice from financial advisors.
• And yet, 68% say they don’t have enough time to engage with financial tools and resources, suggesting that digital content must be quick, mobile-optimized, and in-language to reach them effectively.

Hispanic audiences are not a passive audience; they are a motivated one, looking for fast, relatable, culturally aware content in the channels they already use. In fact, Spanish-speaking consumers consistently express a preference to manage finances in their native language, a move that builds deeper engagement and increases lifetime value.

And the opportunity goes beyond education. By meeting U.S. Hispanics where they are and speaking their language, financial institutions can earn something far more valuable: trust and loyalty.

Translating your website into Spanish and aligning your messaging with this audience's values doesn't just expand your reach. It differentiates your brand, strengthens relationships, and creates lasting retention in an increasingly competitive market.

Even as Regulations Shift, Language Access Still Matters

Although the pace of new federal mandates may fluctuate, language access remains a consistent priority for regulators and courts.

Agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development continue to enforce multilingual access independently. At the same time, state-level laws are expanding consumer protections, and private lawsuits are increasing the risk for institutions that fail to accommodate limited-English-proficient users.

Even without broad federal legislation, the legal and reputational risks of neglecting language access are growing. For many banks and credit unions, translation has shifted from a compliance obligation to a proactive business strategy.

Why the Right Approach to Website Translation Matters

Translating a financial institution's website involves more than just converting text. To be effective, it must also support a consistent user experience, keep up with site updates, and maintain security and regulatory alignment. This means navigating complex CMS integrations, keeping up with dynamic and frequently updated content, and ensuring brand consistency and security across every language version.

What Financial Institutions Should Look for in a Translation Solution

Picking the right translation solution for your bank, credit union, or financial services company should be done carefully, weighing factors including CMS integration, manual updates, and more.

For institutions with limited Marketing or IT resources, the key is choosing a solution that simplifies the process: one that detects changes automatically, preserves branding, and scales effortlessly across languages without disrupting day-to-day operations or generating any unwanted security concerns.

• At one end of the spectrum, traditional providers offer fully human translation workflows. These solutions prioritize linguistic accuracy and cultural nuance but often come with high costs and long turnaround times. Updates to your website must be manually identified and retranslated, which can delay product launches and also generate unnecessary security concerns.
• Other solutions involve AI translation with human review, combining machine speed with human quality control. While this can reduce costs and accelerate delivery, many of these systems still require the institution to manage content workflows, updates, or integrations internally. Without automation to detect new content changes, this leaves your own internal team to execute on sensitive translations that may have legal repercussions.

A modern website translation solution for banks, credit unions, and financial services companies should go further, applying automation not just to the translation itself, but to the full lifecycle of content delivery and maintenance. It should:

• Minimize IT involvement at both launch and post-launch
• Meet high standards for data security and compliance with industry regulations such as PCI, SOC 2, and FFIEC guidelines
• Provide full coverage across websites, customer portals, documents, and mobile apps
• Enable rapid updates to maintain agility when content or campaigns change
• Preserve SEO value through proper metadata, hreflang implementation, and structured content indexing

Whether launching a microsite or rebuilding your full website experience, the goal is not just to translate once. It is to create a framework where translated content can be detected, updated, and deployed automatically without putting strain on your internal resources – even if you have digital content to translate beyond your website, like within secure membership portals, apps, or digital kiosks.

In short, look for a solution that adapts to your infrastructure, scales with your business, and ensures quality without compromising speed or control.

Case in Point: Adaptive Translation Made Easy

MotionPoint and ZAG Interactive often partner in offering two flexible approaches to website translation using Adaptive Translation. Before diving into the technical details, the goal of both approaches is simple: make multilingual website management effortless for financial institutions while preserving brand and compliance standards.

• The Managed Platform uses proxy technology to handle everything automatically.
• The Connected Platform integrates with your existing tech stack through API or connector workflows.
• Both approaches deliver the same outcome: fast, brand-consistent multilingual websites with minimal internal lift.

At the core of both is Adaptive Translation, an AI-driven system that automatically detects new content, selects the best path for translation, and ensures the right level of human input is applied only where it is needed.

Adaptive Translation includes three core components:

• Memory Optimizer, which reduces cost and turnaround time by reusing previously approved content
• Brand Voice AI, which maintains your tone, style, and messaging across every language
• AdaptiveQE, a quality estimation engine that flags content for human review only when necessary

This combination gives financial institutions a scalable, efficient way to maintain multilingual websites without overloading internal resources or disrupting development workflows. Content can go live in as little as one business day, and every element from layout to UX is preserved in every language.

Translation Drives Real Results

Multilingual websites do more than check the compliance box. They deliver measurable business impact.

• Financial institutions working with MotionPoint have seen up to a 50% increase in Spanish web traffic since the pandemic.
• They have also reported lower multilingual customer support call volumes, stronger visibility in multilingual search results, and higher adoption of digital self-service tools.
• Additional benefits include higher retention and engagement from Spanish-speaking users, reduced support volume due to improved self-service, better visibility in non-English search results, and increased digital satisfaction and adoption across language groups.

As financial services become more digital, the ability to reach and serve users in their preferred language becomes a competitive advantage.

Don’t Wait. Lead.

Website translation is no longer a back-office task or a temporary workaround. It is a long-term growth lever.

The institutions that invest in inclusive, multilingual digital experiences today will be better positioned to meet evolving customer needs, and ready to respond quickly to evolving compliance requirements at both the federal and state level, protecting their reputation while driving growth.