Bank on California is an initiative started by California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

 on December 12, 2008, to help Californians open a bank account. The program seeks to encourage financial institutions to relax identification requirements when opening a bank account to include Mexican CID cards and Guatemalan CID cards as well as other CID cards

Consular identification card

Consular identification cards are issued by some governments to their citizens who are living in foreign countries. They are not certifications of legal residence within foreign countries, so CID card holders could be legal or illegal aliens. Issuing travel documents and passports are some of...

. California mayors are being enlisted to promote the program which currently includes San Francisco with Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland and San Jose coming soon.

The program was first announced by Governor Schwarzenegger and former President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 in the Wall Street Journal on January 24, 2008. California was lauded as the first state in the nation to start such an initiative and would be coordinated with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...

. It seeks to draw the "unbanked

Unbanked

The unbanked are citizens of a country who do not have their own bank account. Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial services for their financial needs, where these are available.-The unbanked in the United States:...

" into financial institutions with starter accounts whereby it's hoped that bringing more money into the financial system will grow the economy and help the unbanked build wealth.

Criticism

Clinton and Schwarzenegger claim that "it won't cost taxpayers a dime;" however, involving the FDIC and lobbying mayors to rally institutions in their communities translate to utilizing government resources, and someone had to coordinate to get the Bank on California website developed. Others argue it will help California banks to "launder the illicit earnings of millions of illegal aliens," and that "Californians don´t need help opening bank accounts, illegal aliens do."