In the complex tapestry of the American financial system, the "North Star" for millions of immigrant workers is rarely the pursuit of luxury or the accumulation of consumer goods. Instead, as Andres Santos, CEO and co-founder of the bilingual banking platform Común, observes, the primary driver is the fundamental necessity of family preservation and cross-border support. This demographic insight has fueled the rapid ascent of Común, a New York-based fintech that has managed to scale significantly in a climate of heightened political volatility and shifting immigration policies. By offering a suite of services tailored to the specific friction points of the Hispanic experience—ranging from flexible identification requirements to low-cost remittances—Común is positioning itself as a vital infrastructure provider for a community often sidelined by traditional Tier-1 banks.
The success of Común, which recently reported 276,000 open accounts and a revenue surge to $12.5 million, comes at a critical juncture for the "affinity banking" sector. While the broader fintech market has faced a "winter" of corrected valuations and tightening venture capital, the sub-sector focusing on immigrant communities faces an additional layer of complexity: the shifting sands of federal immigration rhetoric and regulatory oversight. As the industry watches the demise of competitors and the tightening of the regulatory noose, the story of Común serves as a case study in resilience, technical adaptability, and the high-stakes intersection of finance and identity.
The Problem of the "Unbanked" and the Birth of Común
The genesis of Común lies in the observation of a massive, underserved economic engine. In 2017, while managing a $1 billion division for the Mexican food conglomerate Sigma Alimentos, Andres Santos noticed a persistent technological lag in the American bodegas he visited. Inventory was tracked on paper; transactions were overwhelmingly cash-based; and the owners, despite running multi-million dollar micro-enterprises, often operated on the fringes of the formal financial system.
The data supports this anecdotal evidence. According to the Federal Reserve’s latest surveys, approximately 12% of Hispanic households in the United States are "unbanked"—roughly double the national average. This lack of access is not merely a matter of convenience; it is a financial tax. Without a bank account, individuals are forced to use predatory check-cashing services and expensive storefront remittance shops to send money to their home countries.
After moving to the U.S. to pursue an MBA at MIT, Santos teamed up with Abiel Gutierrez, a Stanford-educated computer scientist and former engineer at the corporate credit card giant Brex. Together, they identified the primary barrier to entry: identification. Traditional banks often require a U.S. Social Security number (SSN) to open an account online, a requirement that excludes millions of legal residents, visa holders, and undocumented workers who contribute to the economy. Común’s solution was to build a platform capable of verifying over 100 different forms of Latin American identification, allowing users to enter the digital economy without the friction of traditional brick-and-mortar bureaucracy.
The Mechanics of the Remittance Revolution
While many neobanks, such as Chime or Revolut, focus on sleek interfaces and early payday access, Común identified remittances as its "killer feature." For the Hispanic immigrant community, the ability to send money home is not an auxiliary service; it is the core utility of a bank account. In 2021 alone, U.S. residents sent more than $101.5 billion to Latin American and Caribbean nations.
Común’s model disrupts the traditional storefront model, where fees can often consume 5% to 10% of the total transaction. By integrating remittances directly into the banking app, Común offers transfers to 17 countries for a flat fee of $2.99, plus a transparent foreign exchange spread. In dollarized economies like Panama or El Salvador, the cost remains significantly lower than legacy providers like Western Union or even modern competitors like Remitly.
Interestingly, the shifting political landscape has provided an unexpected competitive advantage for digital-first players. Recent legislative moves, including a 1% tax on outgoing remittances signed into law during the Trump administration, often include exemptions for transfers made through formal bank accounts or debit cards. This policy, intended to capture revenue from the "shadow" cash economy, has effectively subsidized the transition to regulated fintech platforms like Común, making their cost advantage over cash-based storefronts even more pronounced.
Survival of the Fittest: The Collapse of Affinity Banking
The path to 276,000 accounts has not been without its casualties. The fintech industry has seen at least six major affinity-based startups—those targeting specific ethnic or social groups—shutter or undergo fire sales in the last four years. The most recent and high-profile failure was Seis, a direct competitor to Común that also targeted Hispanic immigrants. When Seis closed its doors, its leadership cited a decline in new immigration as a primary factor for its inability to scale.
Santos, however, argues that the "new arrival" market is only a fraction of the opportunity. With 65 million people of Hispanic descent already living in the U.S., the total addressable market (TAM) is vast and deeply integrated into the American workforce. Común’s strategy relies on capturing the "incumbent" immigrant population—those who have been in the country for years but remain dissatisfied with the high fees and cultural disconnect of traditional banks.
The failure of competitors also highlights the difficulty of the "Banking-as-a-Service" (BaaS) model. Early in its journey, Común faced significant fraud challenges, a common growing pain for rapid-scale fintechs. Rather than pivoting away, the founders doubled down on their internal infrastructure. In 2023, they relaunched with a more robust "Know Your Customer" (KYC) framework and transitioned to new banking partners, including Community Federal Savings Bank and Cross River Bank. This move toward "proactive underwriting" and real-time fraud monitoring has become a prerequisite for survival as federal regulators increase their scrutiny of the BaaS ecosystem.
The Regulatory Tightrope and Political Risk
Perhaps the greatest threat to Común’s mission is not market competition, but legislative intervention. In Washington, the debate over immigration has increasingly bled into the financial sector. Prominent voices, such as Senator Tom Cotton, have pushed the Treasury Department to mandate that banks verify the legal residency status of all account holders—a move that would effectively de-bank millions of people who currently use foreign IDs or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to participate in the economy.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant has signaled a cautious approach, expressing reluctance to impose sweeping new regulatory burdens on the entire banking system while encouraging banks to be more "proactive" in their client due diligence. For Común, this ambiguity is both a risk and a shield. Santos argues that denying immigrants access to regulated banks is counterproductive to national security and financial transparency. By bringing these transactions into the regulated system, they become subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Pushing this economic activity back into the cash economy, Santos contends, does not stop the money from moving; it simply makes it impossible to supervise.
The Path Forward: Loans, Stablecoins, and the Future of Neobanking
Looking toward 2026 and beyond, Común is diversifying its revenue streams to move beyond interchange fees and remittance spreads. Currently, 40% of its revenue comes from the fees merchants pay when customers use their Común Visa cards. To build a more sustainable "all-weather" business, the company is developing a loan product—a critical step in helping immigrant families build credit history in a system that often treats them as "credit invisible."
Furthermore, Común is exploring the integration of stablecoins as a vehicle for cross-border transfers. The use of blockchain technology could potentially reduce transfer times from days to seconds and lower costs even further, bypassing the traditional SWIFT network and intermediate correspondent banks. This move reflects a broader trend in fintech where "social impact" and "high technology" converge to solve legacy inefficiencies.
The company’s recent $19.5 million Series A extension, which valued the firm at $200 million, suggests that investors—including heavyweights like Costanoa Ventures and Redpoint—believe in the durability of the immigrant economy. As the U.S. demographic shift continues, the financial institutions that succeed will be those that view the Hispanic community not as a peripheral "niche," but as a central pillar of the nation’s economic future.
Conclusion: A Mission Beyond Politics
As Andres Santos frequently emphasizes, Común’s goal is to serve a marginalized community "without getting political." However, in the current American climate, the act of providing a bank account to an immigrant is inherently a political statement. The company’s survival depends on its ability to balance high-growth ambitions with a rigorous adherence to evolving compliance standards.
By framing financial inclusion as a tool for transparency and economic stability, Común is attempting to carve out a permanent space for itself in the American financial landscape. Whether it can survive the looming regulatory shifts remains to be seen, but its current momentum suggests that the demand for dignity, transparency, and family support is a force that transcends the fluctuations of the political cycle. In the end, the success of Común may prove that the most effective way to integrate a community into the national fabric is not through rhetoric, but through the provision of a secure, accessible, and fair place to keep their money.