Citi Financial Education Program

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Citi's Financial Education Program

Highlights July 2007

United States

Citi Foundation and Junior Achievement Crown "JA Banks in Action" North American Champion

Eleven teams of high school students across the U.S. and Canada, competed in the first-ever JA Banks in Action North America Tournament in New York on July 16-17.
JA Banks in Action, sponsored globally by Citi Foundation, demystifies finance by explaining how a bank works. While exposing students to banking basics, operations, and history, the program also teaches students learn about various career paths they can take in the financial services industry. A computer simulation allows student competitors to role-play in high-level positions such as CEO and CFO, challenging them to successfully operate a bank in a dynamic environment where their decisions will make or break ‘their' bank. The students face off in an exhilarating game of financial know-how and skill, where good money management instincts are the key to survival.
Students from Newark High School in Wilmington Delaware, Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada and O'Conner High School in San Antonio, Texas devised winning strategies to earn first, second and third place respectively in tournament.
During the 2006-07 school year, an estimated 7,000 North America students participated in the JA Banks in Action program. Citi employees across the region volunteered their time throughout the year to help broaden the financial understanding of students by teaching them about the banking industry and personal financial management.

California: Citi Smith Barney's Ladera Group Leads a Panel of Experts

On Saturday, July 20th, the Ladera Group was instrumental in furthering the Citi Financial Education Program at the Far West Regional Conference of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. held in Manhattan Beach, CA. Rene Nourse, of the Ladera Group, was the keynote speaker at the "In The Black" luncheon. She spoke to the leaders of 28 chapters who will now take the financial education program information back to their communities.
A panel of experts including Rene Nourse, Lem Daniels and Carl Davis, of the Ladera Group, and Barry Levine and Gary Wei, of Citibank, led an interactive workshop for the members after the luncheon.
All 100 members and guests in attendance received a complementary copy of "The Citi Commonsense Money Guide for Real People."
Since the partnership between Smith Barney and Jack and Jill of America, Inc. was announced in July 2006, the Ladera Group has held numerous workshops and information sessions about the Cit Financial Education Curriculum Program for the organization's Teen Group and mother members on the West Coast.

Frederick, MD: Mortgage Banking 101 & Financial 101 Courses

The Citi Pride Network in Frederick, MD held a "Financial 101" course on July 23rd for CitiMortgage employees. The participants learned important budget and goal setting tips.
CitiMortgage hosted 16 students for a "Mortgage Banking 101" course as part of the Ft. Detrick Youth Career Exploration Day Camp through Frederick County's Work Force Development office. The children, aged 11-17, calculated interest savings on a sample mortgage refinance loan, as well as discussed the skills they would need to hold different jobs at Citi.

Operation Hope

Citi Foundation supports Operation Hope's Banking on our Future program, in ten U.S. markets: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Southern California, and Washington, DC. The grant helps Citi volunteers and volunteers from Operation Hope's community partners deliver financial education to 11,000 students.

Chicago: Operation Hope

On July 19 and 26, Citi employees collaborated with Operation Hope and other Chicago-area companies to present financial education to more than 3000 students in the Chicago Public Schools. Students in grades 9-12 who are employed in the CPS summer youth program received instruction on budgeting, basic banking, credit, and money management.
Citi Volunteers included employees from Citibank, Citicards, Diners Club, Citifinancial, and Bank at Work. During a special "Salute and Recruit" luncheon on July 19, John Hope Bryant, Founder of Operation Hope, thanked the Citi volunteers for their passion, commitment, and dedication in the cause of educating our youth.

Baltimore: Operation Hope

Operation Hope sponsored a "Salute and Recruit" breakfast for CitiFinancial employees. Nearly 30 CitiFinancial volunteers attended the event. Highlights included remarks from the assistant principal of Francis Scott Key elementary and middle school in Baltimore City.
The school participated in Teach Children to Save Day this past spring. Stephanie Jones, a 7th grader at the school, shared what she had learned from Teach Children to Save and the changes she is making in the management of her allowance and from income from jobs such as babysitting. John Hope Bryant also spoke and thanked CitiFinancial for its financial education efforts in Baltimore's inner city.

Nashville: INROADS conference

On July 7th at the INROADs national conference in Nashville, Dara Duguay, Director, Citi Office of Financial Education, conducted two back-to-back presentations to approximately 100 INROADs students on "Money Rules You Can't Afford to Break." Each participant also received a complimentary copy of the Citi Commonsense Money Guide for Real People.
The Citi Foundation supports INROADs whose mission is to develop and place talented minority youth in business and industry and prepare them for corporate and community leadership.

Citi Book Distributed at Major Annual conference

In July, the Citi Commonsense Money Guide for Real People was distributed at major annual conferences to participants for no cost. This personal finance book was produced by Citi as a financial education resource to help people better manage their money. All proceeds will go to support non-profits' financial literacy initiatives.
Conferences included the National Urban League, the National Council of La Raza and the Alliance for Non-Profit Management.

U.S. Financial Education Training

To date, over 6,700 employees and non-profit partner staff have undergone training to teach financial education using Citi's Financial Education Curriculum.
Nearly 3,700 people have participated in the online training since the April 2005 launch of the site.

EMEA

Bahrain: Citi Supports Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) Program

HRDF received a $45,000 grant from the Citi Foundation towards the implementation of the Professional Risk Manager (PRM) program, considered to be a global standard for risk professionals working in the financial industry.
The PRM certification is a rigorous set of four exams covering Finance Theory, Financial Markets and Financial Instruments; Mathematical Foundations of Risk Measurement; Risk Management Best Practices; Case Studies, and Ethics and Governance. It addresses the shortage in Risk Management training at higher education institutions resulting in a skill gap in this field, as pointed out by a recent study conducted by Ernst & Young.
The HRDF is supervised by the Central bank of Bahrain and run by a board of top bankers in Bahrain. Its mission is to develop skills required in Bahrain's financial services industry. The Citi Foundation's Grant will be used to support the execution of the PRM certificate over a 5-month period and will benefit those risk professionals at Bahrain-based banks and insurance companies wishing to improve their risk analysis skills.

Dubai: 2007 Entrepreneurship and Business Plan Development Workshop

The Centre for Management and Professional Development, the community outreach arm of the University of Dubai received funds from the Citi Foundation for the Citigroup Scholarship Program and the Entrepreneurship Development Workshop.
Merit based scholarships will be provided to 10 students majoring in business to participate in four specialization courses focused on finance and banking. The students may choose from courses including the following: Financial Statement Analysis, Corporate Finance, International Finance and Banking, Financial Markets and Portfolio Analysis, Islamic Financial Institution Management, Investment Analysis, Marketing Financial Services, and Insurance and Risk Management.
The Entrepreneurship workshops were designed to equip potential student entrepreneurs with the necessary knowledge and skills to screen and evaluate their business ideas for their feasibility, and prepare business plans pertaining to their business ideas.

Asia Pacific

Citi Indonesia-sponsored "Your Money" television takes financial education into millions of homes

The "Uang Anda" (Your Money) financial education series, funded by the Citi Foundation and run in cooperation with YKK VAB (Vision of the Children of the Nation Foundation) was launched on July 2, 2007.
This new television program aims to help millions of Indonesians gain a better understanding about financial planning and management. It also provides practical advice and tips on a range of personal finance topics.
Incorporating real-life scenarios, the five-minute episodes are a regular segment on Metro TV's "Bisnis Hari Ini" (Business Today) show. The video vignettes are airing at 3:00pm every Tuesday from July 3 until February 2008 (32 episodes).
At the launch, Shariq Mukhtar, Citi Indonesia's Country Business Manager, said, "Through the television series, our aim is to help millions of Indonesians better understand a range of topics including budgeting, saving, investing and the proper use of credit. Using credit wisely is particularly important because research indicates that some people see credit cards as a lending tool, and as a result, they get caught in a debt trap."
Agus Pambagio, co-founder of YKK VAB, said television was a great way to showcase personal finance best practices. "Close to 80% of Indonesians own, or have access to a television. Given this, it's the perfect medium for a mass education program."

Hong Kong: "Smart Kid" Financial Education Program

The 2007/08 Smart Kid Financial Education Experiential Program began on July 16 with 120 students taking part in specially designed financial education day camps. Targeted at secondary school students ages 15-17, this program aims to educate youth about the importance of personal financial planning through prudent financing, proactive upgrading and detailed planning.
Sponsored by the Citi Foundation, the program is co-organized by Tung Wah Group of Hopsitals' Healthy Budgeting Family Debt Counselling Centre, Citi Hong Kong and the Learning Society. During the one-day camp, students went through a simulation where they experienced the different challenges and choices to be made in their "life" including education, work and unemployment, consumption and savings, investment and entertainment.
After they complete the camp, participating students become ambassadors and share their learning and experience with at least 300 of their schoolmates within two months, such as during school assemblies or classes, or via school websites.
Sim S. Lim, Citi Country Officer, Hong Kong said, "Over the years, Citi, with our community partners, have developed and introduced a number of innovative financial education programs in Hong Kong. Encouraged by the overwhelming positive response from the students and teachers, Citi will continue to ensure its financial education programs are innovative and relevant to Hong Kong youths."
Another two camps will be held in February and April 2008. In total, 360 secondary school students from 36 schools will attend the three camps. Coupled with the ambassador program, more than 10,800 students will benefit from the 2007/08 Smart Kid program.

Mexico

2007 International Forum of Entrepreneurs

During the week of July 2nd to 6th the 2007 International Forum of Entrepreneurs took place. The FIE is a forum organized by Impulsa- Junior Achievement México, and its main objective is to provide a learning and creativity development space. 3er Congreso Internacional de Educación Emprendedora, EF Banamex participated in the Fair to exhibit educational material and by achieving the second place award was able to present its educational materials and results to 130 participants of the 11 Latin American Countries.

Comic Books

EF Banamex in a joint effort with the payroll Department, have designed four (4) financial education comic books that at present are being distributed on a bimonthly basis starting on November 2006, via Banamex's Payroll Monthly Statements. To date the topics are: how to wisely use the Year-end Bonus, Payment Methods, Responsible Consumption and Credit.

Summer Workshop

From July 9th to the 13th, 2007, the Summer Workshop "Saber Cuenta para el futuro" took place. It was held in Mexico City, in the facilities of the Universidad del Valle de México, where 240 boys and girls participated, who were children and relatives of Bank employees. The workshop dealt with topics related to basic economy within the family, the community, the city, our nation, our country and our world, as well as financial topics such as savings, history and the shape of money in modern times.

Latin America

Chile: Atlas Citibank Provides Financial Education for Children to Understand Banking

Atlas Citibank is supporting important financial education programs that have the goal of improving the commercial culture of the population and keeping them better educated on important financial information.
Financiera Atlas Citibank recently conducted a financial education activity at the "Swans of Putemun- My House Foundation" which allowed 20 children from the foundation to learn from bank employees and understand how money is managed by banks.
The children were shown the vault, taught about the history of money, checks, each branch officer's work assignments and duties, as well as the important role of savings and budgeting for their families and their futures.

Ecuador: Students Gain Banking Experience with "Banks in Action" Program

Junior Achievement in Ecuador inaugurated the training and selection workshops for the interschool contest "Banks in Action Citi 2007," funded by the Citi Foundation. Approximately 600 public high school juniors from Quito and Guayaquil are to benefit from this project, in which 20 Citi executives will participate as volunteer advisors.
JA Banks in Action is an 8-week program designed to teach high school students about how banks operate, basic banking products and services and careers in banking. Students learn about the challenges of operating a bank in a competitive environment. Teams of students use a computer simulation to manage their bank by making decisions on interest rates to obtain deposits and make loans, marketing, and R&D investments. The objective is to obtain the highest profits and the best return on investment for their shareholders.
Winners of this interschool contest will participate in the Latin American "Banks in Action" Tournament in November in Panama.

Venezuela: Citibank Announces "Banks in Action" Student Winners

JA Banks in Action is an 8-week program designed to teach high school students about how banks operate, basic banking products and services and careers in banking. Funded by the Citi Foundation, students learn about the challenges of operating a bank in a competitive environment. Teams of students use a computer simulation to manage their bank by making decisions on interest rates to obtain deposits and make loans, marketing, and R&D investments. The objective is to obtain the highest profits and the best return on investment for their shareholders. Citibank staff participate as volunteer advisors.
Three students of "Liceo Sagrado Corazon de Jesus" school in Chacao had the best results from their decisions made in the banking simulation contest done through computer software especially designed for this competition. They will travel to Panama in November to represent Venezuela in the regional tournament that bears the same name.