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Financial Education
Knowledge is your greatest asset. SM
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Highlights
Citi's Financial Education Program
 
Highlights December 2007
 
International
 
Junior Achievement Presents Citi with "Extreme Partnership" Award
  • The Extreme Partnership Award is presented annually to one Junior Achievement board member company that has made a significant global impact on all levels of the organization for at least three consecutive years. This year Francesco Vanni d'Archirafi, a member of Citi's Management Committee and Global Head of Cash Management at Citi, and Daria Sheehan, Senior Program Officer of the Citi Foundation were on hand to accept the award.
  • Since 1989, Citi and the Citi Foundation have provided financial support to JA Offices around the world in excess of $22 million. Last year alone, the Citi Foundation provided funding to JA operations in 49 countries, and to 24 states in the U.S. More than 2,000 Citi employees around the world taught Junior Achievement programs last year and the company was represented on 21 local boards in the U.S. and in 26 countries.
  • The Citi Foundation is the global sponsor of JA Banks in Action™, a new program that teaches high school students how banks work and exposes them to careers in financial services. In 2007, students from 28 countries participated in JA Banks in Action, thanks to a grant in excess of $2.7 million over three years to JA Worldwide from the Citi Foundation.
United States
 
ACORN Receives Grant to Help Individuals Build Assets
  • ACORN was awarded a three-year $1.5 million commitment by the Citi Foundation to continue offering its highly effective financial education outreach programs in 28 U.S. cities as well as expanding its efforts to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Over the three-year period, ACORN expects to provide informational outreach on Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) to 600,000 individuals, offer free tax preparation to 68,000, and provide homeownership counseling to 87,000.
  • Ultimately, ACORN's goal is to help low- to moderate-income individuals build real assets. By moving towards maximum eligible participation in programs such as the EITC, as well as food stamps and Medicaid, ACORN will help greater numbers of people secure lasting wealth and assets. With the extra income, support, and security from its programs, ACORN and ACORN Housing can assess families' status, and help them towards homeownership, regular low-cost banking, and away from the rent-to-own and payday lending schemes that often draw wealth out of their communities.
New Jersey: Communities in Schools Launches Financial Literacy Program
  • The Citi Foundation awarded $50,000 to Communities in Schools of NJ (CISNJ) to launch the Citi financial literacy program. The purpose of CISNJ is to champion the connection of needed community resources with schools to help young people successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.
  • The Citi Financial Literacy Program will serve students in three school districts; Newark, Passaic and Plainfield. The program will serve about 1,000 students in grades 6-8 at one designated school per district. Volunteers from Citi will provide training for teachers who will implement the program in the after-school program, as well as interested regular day teachers and CIS project directors.
Kentucky: "Banking on Your Future" Reaches 865 High School Students
  • The Florence, KY Citi Financial Education Program in partnership with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce visited several area high schools as part of a week long Banking on Your Future program. A total of 28 volunteers from the Florence site worked with 12 schools in Northern Kentucky.
  • Last year the Banking on Your Future program (utilizing the Citi Financial Education curriculum) was held at the Citi facility with 300 students participating. This year, Citi's Financial Education volunteers traveled to high schools. The decision to visit to the schools dramatically increased the quantity of students reached by the program. In total, 28 Citi volunteers helped teach 865 high school students about the dangers of identity theft and about the benefits of participating in 401K programs.
Ernst & Young Citi Employee Program was a Success in 2007
  • Building on the success from 2006, the Ernst and Young Citi Employee Program concluded another successful year educating Citi employees about personal financial topics. In December workshops were held at Citi locations in Newark DE, Rochester and Pittsford NY, Chicago IL, Wilmington DE and New Castle DE.
  • In total, Ernst and Young conducted 350 workshops at 56 US Citi locations reaching 8140 employees throughout the year.
  • Certified Financial Planners from Ernst & Young conducted sessions on topics that included Using the Citigroup 401(k) to Reach Your Retirement Goals, Stock Options, Cash/Debt Management, Investing, Income Tax Planning, Education Planning and Estate Planning.
U.S. Financial Education Training
  • To date, over 7,200 employees and non-profit partner staff have undergone training to teach financial education using Citi's Financial Education Curriculum.
  • Over 4,000 people have participated in the online training since the April 2005 website launch.
Europe, Middle East and Africa
 
Hungary: Citibank Financial Education Program Expanded to Reach More Schools
  • Another 15,000 pupils will now have access to innovative technology-based teaching materials in the 36 elementary schools across Hungary that will be included in this year's Citibank Financial Education Program. Citibank Hungary launched this program in 2001 in partnership with Junior Achievement Hungary. Citi Foundation has provided $750,000 in funding from 2001 through 2007 to support the initiative. A total of 95,000 pupils in 214 schools across Hungary can now learn from the personal finance training materials donated through this program.
  • Junior Achievement Hungary developed these educational DVDs, which contain content in economics and finance. These materials were based on Junior Achievement's printed teaching materials developed in the US. These materials were then adapted to reflect Hungary's market environment and to meet the interests of the Hungarian pupils.
  • This year the program was enhanced to include a student enterprises program that will teach students how to set up and run successfully a private small enterprise. They will also learn how to operate in an ethical way in this challenging market environment. Successful enterprises around the country will have the opportunity to introduce their products to the public in a Student Fair organized by Citibank and Junior Achievement Hungary next spring in Budapest.
Habitat for Humanity: Launches New 3-Year Financial Literacy Program
  • Habitat is launching a new, three-year financial literacy program throughout Europe, Central Asia and Africa to build the capacity of its local affiliates as well as its homeowners. Based on the solid results of Habitat's financial literacy program in the Latin America region, which educated 3,000 families over three years, the Habitat team realized that one of the main differences between successful and unsuccessful homeownership is financial education.
  • Habitat's financial education program will roll out with the adaptation of financial education training materials for each region, progressing into the training and product development phase and concluding with a rigorous evaluation of the program's results and impact. The program will engage in education, training, research, and workshops on three levels: training-of-trainers; providing general financial education workshops directly to families; and working with intermediaries to develop suitable lending, savings and microfinance products.
Russia: New Robust Web Portal to be Developed
  • The International Business Leaders Forum of Russia received a grant from the Citi Foundation to fund the development of a highly collaborative three-pronged national financial literacy program and a robust web portal in Russian that has the potential to become the core instrument for implementing the Russian Ministry's National Financial Literacy Initiative.
  • The program will provide age appropriate financial education targeted to three key populations: teenagers and youth; adults and families; and entrepreneurs and small business owners. The program will also offer resources and links for NGOs and educators such as: financial education lesson plans and classroom tools; links for corporate volunteers; and awards and recognition programs for outstanding financial education teachers and volunteers.
  • In the first year, the program expects to reach 100,000 students, 60,000 adults, 500 educators and 300 NGOs and organizations.
Asia Pacific
 
India: Citi-FT Financial Education Summit 2007 reinforces Stakeholder Commitment to increase Financial Education for the Poor
  • Citi's fourth annual Financial Education Summit on 6-7 December in New Delhi, India was the most successful to date. The Summit, funded by the Citi Foundation, brought together over 250 speakers, moderators and delegates from 27 countries. Many Summit participants were inspired to renew their commitments to increase financial literacy among disadvantaged groups, develop multi-sector partnerships to expand financial education initiatives, and step up efforts to measure the economic and social impact of financial education programs.
  • Muliaman Hadad, Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia shared his experience in creating a national financial literacy campaign and BI's plans to designate 2008 as the Year of Financial Education in Indonesia. V.S. Das, Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India, described RBI's initial efforts to increase the financial literacy of marginalized groups in India, and emphasized that these Summits are very important for improving RBI's understanding of financial education and finding ways to better deliver its programs.
  • Other notable speakers and moderators at this year's Summit included Michael Klein, Chief Economist, IFC; Rajat Nag, Managing Director General, Asian Development Bank; R.K. Nair, Executive Director, Securities and Exchange Board of India; Maria Fres-Felix, VP, Communications and Stakeholder Relations Group, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation; Ruth Gonzaga, Acting Bank Officer IV, Central Bank of the Philippines; Ovid Tzeng, Board Member, Financial Literacy and Education Foundation, Taiwan; Bruno Lévesque, Administrator, Financial Education Directorate and Enterprise Affairs, OECD; and Victor Mallet, Asia Editor, Financial Times.
  • Citi speakers included Stephen Bird, CEO, Global Consumer Group, Citi Asia Pacific; Sanjay Nayar, CEO, Citi India; P.S. Jayakumar, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India; T.R. Ramachandran, Business Manager, Cards, Global Consumer Group, Citi India; Sandeep Ghosh, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Banking, Citi India; and Dara Duguay, Director, Citi Office of Financial Education.
Australia: Citi Fin-Q Survey Shows Need to Set Personal Finance Goals for 2008
  • The findings of a Citi Fin-Q (Financial Quotient) survey released by Citibank Australia on December 30 found that many Australians aren't putting enough focus on their financial well-being and indicates that ‘financial fitness' should be added to the top of people's New Year's resolutions list.
  • The Citi Fin-Q survey found that many Australians are not saving, budgeting or seeking financial planning advice. With these statistics in mind, Citibank Australia outlined important strategies for addressing ‘wallet weaknesses' as a good foundation for 2008: take control now; start a savings plan; start a budget; improve your financial IQ; get insurance; and plan for your future.
  • The Citi Fin-Q Survey has been designed to measure the Financial Quotient (Fin-Q score) or financial well-being of consumers. Respondents are scored on 11 different questions closely related to financial well-being with a maximum possible score of 100. The research also incorporated separate attitudinal and lifestyle questions. The Citi Fin-Q survey was conducted amongst a representative sample of 400 Australian adults, 18 years of age or older in October 2007. The Fin-Q Survey has also been conducted in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Mexico
 
Banamex Volunteers Become Certified Tutors
  • On December 4th, 78 Banamex volunteers graduated after completing the on-line courses called "Personal Finances: Your Job, Your Money and Your Patrimony" and "Tutors' Training". From then on they will become certified tutors to provide support to students from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Learning Community Centers who want to take accredited personal finances courses.
"Introduction to Financial Statements Dynamics" course
  • On December 8 and 9, the winners of the Banamex Micro-entrepreneur Award went to Tehuacan, Puebla to take the course called "Introduction to Financial Statements Dynamics," with the support of a scholarship granted by Banamex Financial Education. This course is given by one of Banamex's strategic partners "Alternativas y Procesos de Participación Social."
  • Its objectives are: to know and apply accounting concepts to help decision making in the micro-enterprise field; to learn how to keep good accounting of the money that is being handled; to know the value of the assets; to keep good control of what is earned and spent; and to understand the basics and the dynamics of the main economic documents of a company, which includes the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement.
Latin America
 
Citi Ecuador Is Finalist for International Community Service Award
  • Quito – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Business Civic Leadership Center has recognized Citi Ecuador as a finalist for a Corporate Citizenship Award in the category of International Community Service.
  • Citi Ecuador was highlighted for its support to financial education programs through its work with Junior Achievement, in which the volunteer participation of its employees constitutes a main component. The International Community Service Award honors companies for corporate citizenship programs that contribute to social and civic progress in communities across the world. In this case, Citi was recognized for its contribution to the Ecuadorian community.
Chile: Citi Foundation and La Fuente Foundation Inaugurate Library in Doctor Sotero del Rio Oncological School
  • Citi Foundation and La Fuente Foundation inaugurated a library at the Doctor Sótero del Río Oncological School 116, open to 50 children with chronic diseases who attend classes at that school. The library is open to parents, guardians and officers of the school and the hospital. There will also be a mobile car that will take books to hospitalized children in order to encourage them to read, the purpose being to provide emotional support and develop the imagination.
  • The initiative is part of the Financial Education in Local School Libraries Project through which beneficiaries also will receive fundamental education in finance, administration, and economics and in turn learn how to manage and turn a profit on the money they have and use funds to develop their own projects. This initiative was started in 2005.