Madrid, 30 September 2022.
Banco Santander’s financial education projects and programmes have helped 2.6 million people in the last three years (2019 – 2021). For over 10 years in every country where it operates, it has been running programmes with employee volunteers, NGOs and other institutions to expose those most in need to basic financial concepts and help them make informed decisions.
Financial education is one of the three pillars of Banco Santander’s strategy for financial inclusion (next to access and financing) as part of its responsible banking agenda to make growth inclusive. Last year, Santander helped 860,000 people access basic financial services, financed over 1.1 million retail customers and SMEs struggling to get credit or make ends meet, and boosted the financial literacy of 1.3 million people.
For Banco Santander’s Global Head of Responsible Banking, Lara de Mesa, “financial education is a key lever to support financial inclusion, which contributes directly to seven of the United Nations’ 17 SDGs for 2030 and helps people, businesses and broader society prosper”.
At the recent meeting of the G20’s Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), academic and institutional experts stressed digitalization to boost inclusion, digital finance, and financial education and consumer protection to overcome skill barriers.
Banco Santander has several education programmes so everyone can learn basic finance, budgeting and risks and make the right decisions for themselves and their families. In 2021, it established common principles on transparency and quality for all its initiatives, in line with the OECD’s standards, to promote affordable and interactive learning. Santander’s financial education initiatives (79 in 2021) include classroom workshops and courses, plus special websites, materials, tutorials and games online.
