Citi Financial Education Program

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Citigroup Financial Education Program

Highlights August 2006

EMEA

Russia: Citigroup & RMC Launch Round Two of Microentrepreneurship Awards

The Citigroup Foundation and the Russian Microfinance Center (RMC) announced the launch of Round Two of the Russian Microentrepreneurship Awards in association with the 2006 Citigroup Microentrepreneurship Awards program at a press conference in Moscow on August 8.
A report on the overall growth and development of the microfinance sector in Russia was also presented. The Russian Microentrepreneurship Awards is a follow-up to the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards program that was held in Russia in 2005. The goal of the awards program is to encourage and support best practices among both microentrepreneurs and microfinance institutions throughout Russia and to draw public and government attention to the important role that microfinance plays in promoting economic development at the local level.
This year, the Citigroup Foundation is providing 100% of financial support to the Awards, which are being hosted in 23 countries around the world.

Switzerland: Citigroup Foundation Supports JA-YE European Company of the Year Competition

Young Enterprise Switzerland hosted the 17th JA-YE European Company of the Year Competition in Interlaken August 3-6, 2006, with support from the Citigroup Foundation.
Citigroup presented the first Citigroup Award for Most Innovative Product or Service at the gala event. The award went to the Israeli “High Team” for their “Mahzikal Nail”, a product that makes it possible to hammer in a nail with one hand without injury.
Four hundred participants and guests came from 26 nations for the 3-day mini-enterprise extravaganza.

Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia Host "Economics for Leaders"

The Citigroup Foundation-supports Economics for Leaders program conducted by the Foundation for Teaching Economics and Junior Achievement each year in August and September in five participating Central European countries. Each country's program provides the opportunity for 30 high school students and 30 high school economics teachers to learn about economics concurrently with leadership skills.

Romania-

Economics for Leaders offered participants up-to-date economic information and the opportunity to specialize in micro and macro free market economy. The one week long program was structured in sessions and workshops, consisting of practical, team work and leadership activities for students.
The main goal of the program is to change the mentality and approach of teaching Economics to become attractive, practical and connected to real-life economics.
The leadership sessions challenged the students and the team solving problems were designed to develop abilities of solving conflicts, communication skills and approach to the leadership concept.

Slovakia-

30 Slovakian high school students, selected for their leadership potential, and 30 Slovakian high school teachers participated in the Foundation for Teaching Economics’ program in mid-August in Banska Bystrica, Central Slovakia.
During the week, students develop insight into economic behaviour, an economic way of thinking about public policy choices, and an appreciation for different leadership styles. Teachers become better educators, leaving with new teaching strategies, a more complete understanding of economic concepts, and simulations, games and materials to make economics exciting to students.

Bulgaria-

August 6- Citigroup and the Gillette Business Unit of Procter and Gamble Company are teaming up to help improve Bulgarian financial and economic education. Contributions from the Citigroup Foundation and P&G are funding the Economics for Leaders program held for 50 Bulgarian high school teachers at the American University in Blagoevgrad from August 6-12th.
The weeklong program is an outgrowth of Economics for Leaders programs conducted by the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) in the United States. The FTE's local partners in the program are the Bulgarian Ministry of Science and Education and the American University in Bulgaria. The Ministry selects the teachers from all regions of Bulgaria to attend and also assists with the leadership instruction.
The summer camp is an excellent opportunity for participants to acquire knowledge and learn to enjoy economics." said Amin Manekia, Citigroup Country Officer for Bulgaria.

UK: Academy Of Finance Twenty-five UK Career Academy Students complete their 6-week paid internships

On Friday, August 11th, the 2006 Academy of Finance Interns presented their experiences at Citigroup to a packed audience comprising of students, teachers, mentors, friends and parents.
Through its network of career academies, the UK Career Academy Foundation (UK CAF) provides a complete support package for young people aged between 16 and 19 who are looking to build a career in business. As part of the program, the academies arrange industry-specific placements for six weeks during the summer to allow students to practice what they have learned in the workplace and develop additional business competencies. This summer 25 interns have completed their placements with Citigroup in the UK. This is our biggest AOF intern intake to date in the UK!

UK: Citigroup UK and Toynbee Hall tackle financial poverty and ‘creates assets’ for under young adults

Toynbee Hall is launching an innovative new project ‘Creating Assets’, funded by the Citigroup Foundation that will work with young people from low-income families to break the cycle of debt and poverty through tailored financial education.
The ‘Creating Assets’ project will initially work with 30 participants under 18 to teach financial education. The work will educate young people to make informed financial choices, as well as supporting them to develop financial assets needed to strengthen their communities in the future.
‘Creating Assets’ will deliver innovative training using creative learning through a combination of arts activities and excursions to financial institutions. Workshops will focus on topics such as financial planning, shopping around for aspirational consumer goods, opening and using a bank account, and saving for future education. The young people involved in this project will all be supported to open a savings account and to build up assets to allow them to access further education.
The ability for young people to become fully financially included depends on the support of their parents to help them manage their finances. Therefore, a key element of the Creating Assets project is to increase family financial stability and offer support to those families who are having difficulty juggling their finances. A group of Citigroup employees will mentor the parents of the young people involved, and will help them to plan ahead and access relevant banking and saving facilities.

Latin America

Paraguay: Citibank & Junior Achievement Wrap Up MESE Program for Students

August 8th approximately 150 students from all over Paraguay attended the national competition of the MESE (Management and Economic Simulation Exercise) program after five months of intense national competitions. The final competition was hosted at the CitiCenter building.
This program offers students the opportunity to operate their own virtual companies in a simulated environment of the real business world. Three student winners of the MESE program will participate in the Paraguayan Enterprise Forum, which happens in August and is organized by Junior Achievement.
This year almost 2,200 students participated, 122 public and private high schools and almost 700 teams in total.
August 21, the schools Alva from Luque, Internacional from Asuncion and Sembrador from Ciudad del Este Schools were the winners of the 2006 edition of Citibank’s MESE business simulator program.
The three winning teams participated in the Paraguayan Entrepreneur Forum, which took place at the Los Alpes Hotel in the city of San Bernardino and was organized by Junior Achievement.
This simulator is one of three financial education programs sponsored by Citibank in Paraguay in coordination with Junior Achievement.

Japan

Japan: Citigroup Success Fund

Citigroup’s Success Fund event was held in Tokyo on August 21st. The Success Fund is a joint initiative between Citigroup and the National Institute on Consumer Education. The symposium was held for teachers, featuring a panel discussion titled "Prospect of Financial Consumer Education at Schools" as well as four presentations to share the achievement by the teachers from the first round of Citigroup Success Fund.
Doug Peterson, Citibank Japan CEO presented grants (max JPY200,000 per project) to the 32 schoolteachers selected nationwide.
The panel featured Midori Kaneko, Citigroup Japan Corporate Affairs Officer, university professors and a well-recognized economic journalist. The symposium also featured products from some schools produced through the project and displayed a map of Japan, which indicated all schools selected. Citigroup Success Fund examples from Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong were also featured.

Kids' Day in Japan

"Bring your KIDS to work DAY has been taking place for several years in Japan where Citigroup employees bring their children to work that day and are provided with programs to participate in. This year KIDS Day took place on Friday August 18th and financial education was the program selected for the KIDS to engage in.
80 kids participated and really enjoyed the "financial game session." This interactive game was translated and customized from the existing Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum.

Asia Pacific

Taiwan: Citigroup & EduCities Sponsor Financial Education Competition

August 10, Fifth and sixth graders from Taiwan competed for cash prizes in a financial education event held by Citigroup and EduCities at the Taipei Youth Activity Center. The event, aimed at educating youngsters about money management, involved a three-part online learning and questionnaire-answering competition process.
Citigroup's "Citigroup Youth Online Financial Education Plan" saw participation from almost 20,000 elementary students island-wide in the first part of the event in May, almost twice the expected participation number. Students learned about financial management using online courses. The second part of the event held in June, over 200 student groups applied to compete, in teams of five. Twenty teams entered the final round and competed in an EduClick system buzz-in, multiple-choice contest to become the top five finalist teams.
"We might not be able to give our children everlasting wealth," said Citigroup Taiwan's country officer Morris Li, "but we can give them abundant knowledge about how to manage their finances through education, so that every child can have unlimited possibilities in their future in the finance area." The Citigroup Foundation provided NT$180,000 to help EduCities carry out the financial education plan, over a two-year time period.

U.S. Financial Education Training

To date, more than 4,600 employees and non-profit partner staff have undergone training to teach financial education using the Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum.
Almost 2,900 people have participated in the online training since the April 2005 launch of the site.

United States

National Conference of State Legislatures' Annual Meeting

The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. Attendees included those legislators and staff from states that require the implementation of financial education in public schools.
Citigroup displayed its financial education curriculum and other materials at an exhibit booth. The conference took place in Nashville, TN August 15-18.

Citigroup Office of Financial Education and LaGuardia Community College deliver Financial Education to local communities.

As part of the Citigroup Financial Education Grant to LaGuardia Community College in New York, the Office of Financial Education trained 20 members of the LaGuardia Community College faculty on the Adult portion of Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum. Plans to train at least 30 student teachers are underway. LaGuardia has set a goal to reach over 1000 people from local communities during the fall semester.

Financial Education in Tucson, a Citi Cards, Citi Auto, Citibank and CitiMortgage Customer Service site

Citi’s Customer Service site in Tucson, Arizona has worked with three local schools assigned to provide Financial Education. Schools include- Luz Social Services, Copper Creek Community Extension Program, and the Tanque Verde Extended Care Program.
Schools provided several training and education sessions using Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum. More than 200 students participated.
As of August, 195 Citigroup employees have submitted interest forms to participate in Citi Youth, Financial Education program and more than 100 employees have been trained.

The Cost of Cool

Moreno Valley, California - CitiFinancial employees used the grand opening of a new branch as the perfect opportunity to teach financial education. The CitiFinancial Racing show car was on hand and a lucky winner received tickets to the Labor Day weekend race at the California Speed way in Fontana. The highlight of the day was when the VIP guests arrived - 12 local children from the Moreno Valley YMCA, who came to learn about the "Cost of Cool", taught to the youngsters by local CitiFinancial employees.
After the lesson, the students received lunch and took pictures with the show car and CitiFinancial team members. CitiFinancial has had great success with global community initiatives. Moreno Valley Mayor Bonnie Flickenger had this to say, "It shows great progress for the city of Moreno Valley when companies like CitiFinancial decide to do business here."