The CaixaBank Volunteer Association and the IEF train more than 4,200 young Spaniards in basic financial literacy

• The more than 600 workshops of the 'Finances for young people' programme, a training project aimed at 4th year ESO students, taught in eight autonomous communities, come to an end.
• More than 150 CaixaBank Volunteers have participated in training sessions in 104 educational centers to teach adolescents how to manage a personal budget, how to prevent debt, and how to invest and financially plan for the future.
• One of the initiatives carried out in financial education is the National Infographic Contest, which has awarded students in Burgos, Murcia and Malaga.

The CaixaBank Volunteers Association and the Institute of Financial Studies (IEF) have presented the year-end balance of the 'Finances for Young People' project, which ends this year with 614 financial education workshops given to 4,240 students in the 4th year of ESO in eight autonomous communities. It is a consolidated project that year after year expands its scope, since the previous edition closed with 521 workshops.

This initiative aims to improve the financial culture of adolescents, providing them with knowledge and tools that allow them to make better decisions for their future, and this year it has had the collaboration of the Departments of Education of Andalusia, Aragon, the Ba​​​​​​​learic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla and León, Extremadura, Madrid and Murcia.

104 educational centers and institutes and 153 volunteers have participated in the project, who have been in charge of pr​​​​​​​eparing and presenting the sessions in the classrooms, investing around 800 hours. All volunteers have received prior training, including pedagogical advice and a teaching methodology by the Institute of Financial Studies (IEF).

The students of these eight communities have been able to learn topics such as money management, which allows them to manage a budget and plan and control daily expenses in a responsible and sustainable way; prevention of indebtedness, which has shown them the different types of indebtedness; or how to make an intelligent investment, where they have been able to learn about the risk/return binomial and the advantages of diversification and socially responsible finance. In addition, a block on financial planning for the future has been taught, in which they have seen the importance of vital objectives and the impact on financial decisions.

The National Infographic Contest rewards three students from Castilla y León, Murcia and Andalusia

The National Infographic Contest has also been held for this academic year, a recognition of the best work by young people in the field of financial communication, and which aims to promote creativity, innovation and design in this area.

The first prize went to a student from the IES Juan Martín El Empecinado, in Aranda de Duero (Burgos), while the second award went to a student from the Colegio Herma in Murcia and the third award went to a student from the IES Fuengirola from Malaga.

Institute of Financial Studies (IEF), pioneer in financial disclosure

Since 2008, the IEF has been developing basic financial education projects at a national and European level, aimed at society as a whole. The IEF is a collaborating member of the Financial Education Plan promoted by the Bank of Spain and the CNMV and other international forums such as the OECD and EBTN.

With more than 30 years of experience, the IEF has carried out training activities in which more than 120,000 professionals from all areas of the sector have participated. It has also participated in projects of the European Commission and is the only Spanish member of the European Association of Banking Institutes (EBTN), which integrates the 40 most prestigious financial training institutes from 32 European countries.

CaixaBank, committed to promoting financial culture

As part of the sustainable banking model, CaixaBank is committed to improving the financial culture of customers, shareholders and, in general, of society as a whole. This commitment has allowed, for many years, to promote financial knowledge through neutral, independent and quality information, in order to help make responsible decisions about personal and family finances.

Through the 'Funcas Program to Stimulate Financial Education', promoted by the Savings Banks Foundation (Funcas) and the Association of Savings Banks and Banks created by Savings Banks (CECA), CaixaBank continues to work daily with the aim of disseminating knowledge and make everyone aware of the importance of acquiring a good financial culture. In addition, it promotes training activities that cover the specific needs of young people, the elderly, entrepreneurs or people in vulnerable situations, through specialized workshops, training courses and conferences.

About CaixaBank Volunteers

The CaixaBank Volunteer Program is one of the largest volunteer initiatives in Spain. With a history of more than 15 years, the Association is made up of employees and former employees of the CaixaBank Group and the "la Caixa" Foundation, as well as friends, family, customers and all those people sensitive to this reality.

In the last year, thanks to joint work with 1,300 social entities, nearly 6,000 volunteers have helped more than 170,000 vulnerable people throughout Spain, through activities related to financial education and job placement, health, child poverty, the elderly and the environment , among other.

The promotion of volunteering is one of CaixaBank's lines of action. For the entity, this is a way of helping to respond to the challenges demanded by society, while at the same time offering services and solutions for all types of people through financial activity.