LJUDSKA POKRETLJIVOST, PROSTOR I ETNIČNOST UDK: 336.7:323.15](73:71) Izvorni znanstveni rad Primljeno: 24. 11. 2008. Prihvaćeno: 05. 12. 2008. Wei LI Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
[email protected] Lucia LO York University, Toronto, Canada
[email protected] People – Money Co-movement and the Ethnic Financial Sectors in Canada and the U.S.* SUMMARY Financial globalization and international migration have altered the socio-economic-demo- graphic make-up as well as the financial dynamics in immigrant receiving countries. An outcome is the emergence or strengthening of a formal ethnic financial sector consisting of financial institutions that are owned and/or operated by a variety of ethnic groups. Focusing on ethnic banks in Los An- geles, USA and ethnic credit unions in Toronto, Canada, and using secondary sources and interviews with bank executives, this paper demonstrates that contemporary financial dynamics pertaining to immigration is rooted/localized in different ways with different groups, and is shaped by different re- gulatory and institutional contexts. Specifically, it identifies that ethnic financial institutions in both cities serve co-ethnics first and foremost, and utilize ethnic assets, bonding social capital in particular, to develop their customer base while branching out to other groups by developing bridging social ca- pital and broadening their product lines. The comparison also shows that ethnic banks in LA are larger, more numerous, and mostly Asian-owned, whereas the ethnic credit unions in Toronto are smaller, less numerous, and mostly of European background. These variations stem from differences in the na- tional financial regulatory regimes and in the immigrant population dynamics.