Education and financial inclusion
As a group we are dedicated to promoting the culture and enhancement of financial awareness of our customers and vulnerable sections of the community
Our group is committed, in Italy and abroad, to providing basic financial education to its customers and implementing financial inclusion projects, especially with regards to disadvantaged groups and those at risk of exclusion. The model we’ve adopted is based on the dissemination of simple and clear information on products and services. Each group company constructs their projects based on their own reference market.
In October 2020 the Mediobanca Group renewed its partnership with Junior Achievement for the second three-year cycle of Crescere, che impresa! (2020-23), the financial education project launched in September 2018.
In the first three-year cycle, the initiative that makes provision for the active involvement of Group Mediobanca employees, focused on schools in some poor areas of Puglia, Sicily, Tuscany, Luguria, Lombardy and was enriched with some new features:
- use of a digital platform on which to upload all useful materials (class lessons, educational kit for the class and family activity kit);
- creation of e-learning modules to support volunteers and teachers (on-line information section on the programme, preparation of class lesson, development of community of JA volunteers and teachers);
- development of JALab learning labs, including a free workshop for raising the awareness of young people and parents of the programme.
The three-year targets of the project were reached in full
| Year | Students | Volunteers MB Group | Classes | Regions | Provinces | Municipalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018/2019 | 8,809 | 47 | 385 | 14 | 37 | 55 |
| 2019/20 Ist semester |
11,846 | 48 | 420 | 16 | 47 | 76 |
| 2019/20 total1 | 17,909 | 67 | 695 | 16 | 51 | 83 |
During the emergency period due to the Coronavirus which has left thousands of people at home, the Mediobanca group and Junior Achievement Italia have joined forces to help and support families, providing them with tools to help smaller children to understand and deal with this difficult situation. In particular, we have made Family Activities accessible via a simple click, a fundamental element of the business education Crescere che Impresa! programme targeted at middle schools.
Mediobanca Private Banking carries out constant financial training of its customers with the goal of increasing awareness and knowledge of the products and services that are offered. It also organises training events in the local area dedicated to important issues like taxation, generational transition and new investment tools.
On the back of the successes achieved in previous years, Compagnie Monégasque de Banque has completed the fourth year of its Academy for women and finance, a financial education programme aimed at women and run in English. The objective of this programme is to allow the women who participate in it to achieve a higher level of independence in managing their estates and managing their investment strategy
In order to embed and increase its clients’ level of financial awareness, the bank organizes events on issues relating to finance, including in prestigious cultural locations. To involve the broadest audience possible in understanding the markets and the principal financial events, CheBanca, with the support of Mediobanca SGR, also publishes a quarterly report (Your Advice) which is sent in electronic format to all the bank’s investors
Compass’s contribution to financial inclusion and accessibility takes the form primarily of various commercial communication initiatives in languages other than Italian. The company’s website includes different sections in English, Spanish, Filipino and Romanian. With a view to attracting younger customers with its product offering, in 2020 Compass launched Pagolight, a buy now, pay later product.
Clients with an ISEE (equivalent financial situation indicator) of less than €11,600 who apply for finance are offered basic current accounts for poorer customers. This account guarantees favourable treatment for customers, e.g. no charges for opening or closing the account, no stamp duty, etc.
In April 2016, Mediobanca SGR launched the second Mediobanca Fondo per le Imprese 2.0, which helps finance domestic small and medium companies in difficulty to implement their medium-term development and growth plans. As of today, the fund has raised a total of €105 million, and has already made six investments for approx. €48m.
