The Jesús María Fuensanta school in the city of Valencia hosted two of the final classes today, out of more than 600 that have been conducted during the months of March, April, and May within the framework of the “Your Finances, Your Future” program, an initiative of the Spanish Banking Association to disseminate personal finance knowledge among Spanish students.
Today’s classes were led by executives from banks with a presence in the Valencian Community, including the commercial director of Banco Santander, Javier Martín Calvo, the regional director of Banco Sabadell, Ramón Peche Pons, the regional director of BNP Paribas, Antonio Soler, the regional director of BCC-Cajamar, Francisco González López, and the regional director of ING, Alex Pomares. David Martín, Blanca Narváez, and Julio Gil also participated in this session, representing AEB, the Junior Achievement Foundation, and the National Financial Education Plan, respectively
The workshops conducted at the Jesús María Fuensanta school are part of a three-session program—today’s session was the third and final one—in which various situations, present or future, related to students’ personal finances have been analyzed. For example, the development of a balanced personal budget was addressed, with special emphasis on the importance of saving and improving the financial decision-making process.
In the Valencian Community, more than 225 students in the 3rd and 4th years of ESO have participated in this first edition of the “Your Finances, Your Future” program, receiving classes over three consecutive weeks from 17 banking employees, all of whom volunteered for this program.
The classes taught today at this Valencia school have brought the “Your Finances, Your Future” project to a close. This initiative, launched by AEB with the collaboration of Junior Achievement, was conducted during the months of March, April, and May in one hundred schools throughout Spain. More than 400 volunteers from 16 banks have taught 6,500 students, who have been introduced to concepts such as saving, responsible consumption, investment, and sustainable debt. The educational content was designed by Junior Achievement, a non-profit foundation with extensive experience in this type of youth education.
The “Your Finances, Your Future” project began in the second week of March, coinciding with European Money Week, an initiative of the European Banking Federation to promote Financial Education, which was conducted simultaneously in more than 20 European countries and responds to the OECD and G-20’s concern about improving citizens’ understanding of financial products and services.
Although the first edition of this program is now coming to an end, AEB President José María Roldán has expressed his interest in ensuring this initiative continues over time and, in fact, the Spanish Banking Association has already begun preparing the Financial Education program for the 2015-2016 academic year.
It should be noted that, although this is the first time AEB banks have acted jointly in this area, the banks’ commitment to financial education has a long tradition, in some cases spanning decades.
Specifically, AEB banks have launched more than 45 individual initiatives in recent years targeting different groups: students, young people, people at risk of social exclusion, the adult population, and SMEs, among others. In total, more than 2.7 million people have benefited from these programs and have received 8.5 million hours of training, thanks to the generous commitment of more than 4,000 volunteers. All this data can be consulted in the new section created on the AEB website (http://www.aebanca.es/es/educacionfinanciera/index.htm).
