Why does San Antonio seem like an afterthought compared to the other 3 Texas metros? (Austin: vs, bars)

[malcorub16]

Austin has flourished North of it with the tech scene.
Monterrey has taken off South of it like a rocket in the last 20 years as Mexico's economic power house of the North despite COVID, the financial crisis of 2008 and the cartel wars.
San Antonio has quietly and steadily continued it's growth over the years but it's primary focus have been military and tourism which in my opinion haven't helped it grow as fast as the two above mentioned cities.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by RobertoSaldana4

San Antonio does have the most Texas brand companies like HEB and Whataburger. Serious thought, we were ranked the number 1 growing tech job growth last moth in the nation. SA is a big player in the financial world with, Frost, Broadway, USAA calling home. We also have 2 of the top biggest credit unions in the US in RBFCU and Security Service. Even though we are seen as an afterthought, SA has some of the most Texan companies HQ here.

Except for USAA all of these financial institutions are regional. But it is good to see Frost Bank build a new office tower downtown, Security Service's new campus on the North Side and USAA starting to move tech employees into their downtown building (pre-covid). CPS (electric utility service) is also in the process of building a new high-rise headquarters downtown, also good news.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

Except for USAA all of these financial institutions are regional. But it is good to see Frost Bank build a new office tower downtown, Security Service's new campus on the North Side and USAA starting to move tech employees into their downtown building (pre-covid). CPS (electric utility service) is also in the process of building a new high-rise headquarters downtown, also good news.

Those credit unions aren’t regional. The Air Force Credit Union also based in SA isn’t regional either

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Those credit unions aren’t regional. The Air Force Credit Union also based in SA isn’t regional either

Meh, that's technically incorrect because AFFCU only has 7 locations (all but 1 in the San Antonio area, and the last one in SW Texas). Same goes for Security Services (only 70 locations in TX, UT and CO).

That said, it is true that members with AFFCU and the other San Antonio-based CUs have the ability to use virtually any credit union branch and credit union ATM in the country to complete their transactions, thanks to joint partnerships with the Credit Union Service Centers and the Co-Op network.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by citidata18

Meh, that's technically incorrect because AFFCU only has 7 locations (all but 1 in the San Antonio area, and the last one in SW Texas). Same goes for Security Services (only 70 locations in TX, UT and CO).

That said, it is true that members with AFFCU and the other San Antonio-based CUs have the ability to use virtually any credit union branch and credit union ATM in the country to complete their transactions, thanks to joint partnerships with the Credit Union Service Centers and the Co-Op network.

That last paragraph can go for just about everywhere credit Union in the country thanks to the Allpoint network (also based in Texas). But AFFCU is actually used nation wide is the thing.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

That last paragraph can go for just about everywhere credit Union in the country thanks to the Allpoint network (also based in Texas). But AFFCU is actually used nation wide is the thing.

Well it's pretty typical for members to be able to use any credit union nationwide.

But still, in terms of physical branches/ATM AFFCU owns and operates, there are none outside of San Antonio and SW Texas.

https://www.creditunionsonline.com/c...ions-3235.html

https://www.creditunionsonline.com/c...atms-3235.html

[malcorub16]

I have Capital One 360 (formerly ING Direct) and Ally Bank. I haven't used a physical bank branch since 2008 when I was with IBC so I agree that physical branches don't matter as much as they used to, but as far as advertising goes... I've never seen or heard a Security Service, Frost Bank or AFFCU commercial outside of Texas.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

I have Capital One 360 (formerly ING Direct) and Ally Bank. I haven't used a physical bank branch since 2008 so I agree that physical branches don't matter as much as they used to, but as far as advertising goes... I've never seen or heard a Security Service, Frost Bank or AFFCU commercial outside of Texas.

Capital One and Ally Bank aren't really regional institutions though.

Virtually anyone in any state can apply for loans, checking accounts or credit cards with Capital One, and the same goes for Ally Bank with their savings account.

With AFFCU and Security Services, their membership footprint is limited to a few states.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

My point exactly. The people in here saying San Antonio doesn’t have any business activity don’t know what they are talking about. However the fact that they are overlooking what San Antonio has goes to show you that it is indeed an afterthought. I just wonder why. You could say Sias has something to do with it but look at Austin. They don’t have near the amount of headquarters that San Antonio has yet they are thought of in a bigger way

Austin appears to have more white collar jobs.
This is probably a big part of it.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

It's all about (1) the income levels and (2) the skin color. Austin is Anglo and wealthy, at least since the 1990s. San Antonio has historically been heavily poor / working class and Hispanic. Whether anyone likes to admit it or not, that plays a huge part of the perception in popular imagination.

Yawn. I was waiting for somebody to play the race card.