Financial Education

$123 million invested by the Mexican Banking System for the promotion of financial education and 3.8 million people benefited in 2014.

Having a financially well-educated society is a priority for the sustainability of the Mexican Banking System and the Association. We want customers of the sector to have the tools and knowledge necessary to be able to use the basket of financial products and services for their benefit by promoting quality of life and the development of the equity of Mexican families.

To achieve this, the Association of Mexican Banks’ Financial Education Committee holds several activities to involve as many people as possible in the financial education circulation strategies. Among the most relevant activities of 2014, the most outstanding were:

National Financial Education Week
The seventh National Financial Education Week, of the National Financial Services Users’ Protection Commission was held on October 20 to 26. For the second year running, the ABM’s Financial Education Committee acted as co-organizer and coordinator of the central event, which was held at the Federal Electricity Commission’s Technological Museum on Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 of the same month, with the participation of 51 public, private and social institutions.

A total of 240 activities were held, divided as follows: 126 workshops, 41 theatrical plays, 40 movie projections, 31 conferences, one exhibition and one financial rally, as well as the dynamic activities held at each institution’s stand. More than 43,000 people attend the main event venue.

Sponsorship of visits to the Interactive Economy Museum (Museo Interactivo de Economía (MIDE)).
In 2014, the collaboration agreement between the ABM and the Interactive Economy Museum remained in force, through which the Association is committed to supporting the entry of students of scarce resources. We sponsored 5,133 free entries for children in state schools along with their teachers or group leaders. With this measure, the ABM and the MIDE assisted the learning of basic economic and financial knowledge among children.

Our associated banks and financial institutions have also implemented important initiatives for the promotion of financial education. As a whole, these activities allowed us to offer our programs to 3.8 million people in 2014, with an investment of more than $123 million pesos.

Our associates’ programs are aimed at children, young people and adults of all socio-economic levels throughout the entire Republic. For the most part, the beneficiaries are not necessarily customers of the promoting banking institution.

Our associates have implemented a wide variety of circulation and training tools and strategies to develop skills that allow the generation, administration and optimization of economic and financial resources. An example of this is the Saber Cuenta Program, which offers classroom courses, conferences and workshops and audiovisual on line courses. It also has six Movicine units that travel the country showing educational films.

Another significant program is Adelante con tu Futuro (Forward your Future), which includes personal finance workshops and workshops for small and medium-size businesses PYMES, which can be attended in fixed classrooms throughout the country and in mobile classrooms and equipment. The workshop contents were developed in collaboration with the Interactive Economy Museum and the TEC de Monterrey.

Entrepreneurs represent a new niche on which several institutions are focusing part of their efforts, in terms of financial education. Entrepreneurship and with it, the strengthening of small and large small and medium-sized companies throughout the country are being driven by courses and workshops with specialist organizations and other initiatives.

Volunteer work
Thanks to the volunteer programs in the industry in 2014, 119,489 people were benefited, for which $13.7 million pesos were invested.

Through the different corporate volunteering programs of the financial institutions, as well in the Association, a strong social and community support tool has been consolidated to help the most vulnerable people and communities, deal with the contingencies caused by natural disasters, reforestation, health care, education and the construction of houses in the most vulnerable communities in order to improve the social fiber.

Programs such as: The Elige Servir Community Day for the collection of donations in kind or toys (Juguetón), reforestation days and habitat cleaning campaigns are just some of the initiatives implemented by our associated institutions.

There are also specialized volunteering initiatives, in which employees offer their knowledge and time to support the development of skills or projects among different publics, such as conferences for women entrepreneurs, advice for small agricultural and manufacturing producers, as well as entrepreneurial projects, among others.

Support in contingencies and natural disasters is another important highlight in the associated financial institutions’ corporate volunteering projects, in which people can help with their work in the collection, classification and distribution of assistance (food, clothing, cleaning products, etc.) among the victims. In many cases, this work is performed in alliance with social organizations such as: Unidos por Ellos and the Mexican Red Cross, among others.

Cultura
Community development/Education: In support of different cultural initiatives, in 2014, we reached 1.5 million people with an investment of $ 29.7 million by associated institutions.

The Banking System has constituted promotion of culture as one of its main lines of community support in order to drive the social development of the country. This is why that through the conservation of the country’s traditions and historical heritage, the financial sector plays a leading role in promoting Mexican culture.

More than 1 million people attended exhibitions, handicraft, musical, cultural, book fairs and events and a wide variety of initiatives in 2014. Fomento Cultural is one of the key programs of this pillar, which supports the promotion of innovative artistic and cultural projects with a firm commitment to enrich Mexico’s cultural heritage. It is characteristics are the design and thrust behind informative programs that have a direct influence on the professionalization of artists, academics and cultural coordinators.

Also in 2014, significant resources and efforts were allocated to the promotion of the Mexican movie industry, charitable art auctions, books and reports on Mexican art and traditions were sponsored and museums and cultural centers were refurbished for the benefit of the community.