"LOOK AFTER THE CENTS, AND THE EUROS WILL LOOK AFTER THEMSELVES"

UniCredit has set up financial education programmes in Italy, Germany and Austria, and additional pilot projects are in place in CEE Countries. The programmes address topics such as basic finance, personal financial planning and retirement planning, savings and investments, and banking products and instruments, with a special focus on digital technologies. On social media, the banks of the Group are celebrating the World Savings Day by sharing special initiatives and products from UniCredit.

Austria

The current pandemic has turned the World Savings Day into the World Savings Week in Austria. Customers can make appointments at branches to discuss their finances and the best investment solutions currently available to them. Moreover, UniCredit Bank Austria will give a World Savings Day gift to various groups including partneSOS Kinderdorf, Caritas, kindergartens and schools.  Each recipient will receive a copy of the book “Discover the Bees” as a gift from the Bank. In addition, 10,000 euros will be donated to CliniClowns, an association with which Bank Austria has been collaborating for many years. CliniClowns is a pioneer of laughter therapy since 1991.

Germany

The German Federal Bank has announced that “The financial assets of the German people have risen to a historical record level. Inflows in cash and deposits on current accounts have contributed significantly to this”. HVB’s marketing colleagues took this opportunity to explain kids and their parents that even youngsters can save money with UniCredit, starting the journey of asset building, from laying the foundations for their first home to planning for retirement.

Bosnia

Every year, UniCredit Bank Bosnia and Hercegovina launches a contest to inspire children to participate in financial education programs. This year’s theme is “I am a superhero”, with Super Štek, the bank’s savings mascot, asking children to write or draw how they spent their time in quarantine. Schools could upload their pupils’ work to the website, and on October 31st winners will be announced on the Bank’s website and through LinkedIn.

Croatia

Every year, Zagrebacka Banka invites children to visit its branches during the World Savings day, but this year it will engage them in a new way.

Branches are contacting kindergarten groups or schools in nearby areas to give them an exciting task – they will draw or make something to show how Pčelica* is saving. It can be a joint drawing by the whole class, or each child may draw their own picture on a given topic. Then, every group will send the  branch a photo of their work and Zaba will award all of them with the Pčelica colouring kit.

*Pčelica (Bee) is the mascot of Children’s Savings in Zaba. Pčelica was also a well-known guest on the kindergarten and school visits to Zaba branches in previous years on World Savings Day.

Italy

Several training courses have taken place in Italy, with some ongoing, in cooperation with Consumer Associations (partners of Noi & UniCredit’s). The courses  focussed on banking and financial education to strengthen the economic inclusion of young people, families and seniors. In addition, UniCredit and SDA Bocconi have recently launched the UniCredit Academy Italia, a higher financial education school for SMEs.

On the eve of the World Savings Day, the award ceremony of the Startup Your Life 2020 competition took place fully digitally. The initiative is part of the UniCredit Social Impact Banking’s financial and business education programme for high school students.