The sector CECA invests 2.58 million euros in financial training

The 2023 Financial Education Executive Report lists more than 6,000 activities on how to navigate the financial landscape at the user level and remain safe from fraud

We are going to take out a mortgage. What do NIR and APR mean? I am thinking about saving. What does inflation have to do with my purchasing power and what does it mean if an investment product pays me a return of 2% a year, when the CPI is 3%? I'm going to buy a car in instalments. What is more advantageous for me, given my income and expected expenditure, to pay higher repayments or to opt for 'comfortable monthly instalments' over a longer period of time?

These are some of the questions on managing our purchasing power that sooner or later we will encounter in our lives. Far from being only for the financially savvy, they actually condition the availability of money for every single one of us. To put it bluntly: knowing how to handle ourselves at a user level when it comes to financial jargon will make money - our money - last more or less. But where can we learn and who will teach us?

Aware of the fact that knowing how to navigate these economic concepts with aplomb is essential for the financial well-being of individuals and households, CECA's member entities (CaixaBank, Kutxabank and CajaSur Banco, ABANCA, Unicaja, Ibercaja Banco, Caixa Ontinyent, Colonya Pollença and Cecabank, and more than thirty foundations) promote, thanks to their capillarity and know-how, programmes throughout the country to foster financial education among all groups. In 2023 alone, they invested €2.58 million, twice as much as in the previous year, making CECA one of the largest investors in financial education in Spain. An ambitious proposal included in the 2023 Financial Education Executive Report, thanks to which more than 100 programmes have been implemented to strengthen financial education in Spain, spread over 6,362 activities.

An area in which there is much to be done

The initiative makes perfect sense when we realise that Spaniards struggle with basic financial literacy. This is the harsh conclusion of the latest Financial Culture Monitor conducted by the European Commission, in which our country ranks fourth last with regard to dealing with such apparently simple concepts as whether we think twice before buying in instalments, or how much we should save per year in order to have a reasonable buffer when we retire. These are some of the multiple-choice questions that were put to citizens from all Member States and which only 19% of our compatriots passed with flying colours, compared to almost 40% in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. More worryingly, almost 1 in 3 of those surveyed reported a low level of education in these matters.

Not having a clear understanding of how to manage money leaves a large part of the population in a situation of financial vulnerability. Things get more complicated when we add the progressive and rapid digitalisation of our finances, the proliferation of payment systems, cryptocurrencies, insurance and cybercriminals who are increasingly sophisticated when it comes to attacking us with scams. That is why, almost a third of the budget (27.68%) of the CECA sector's financial education plan focuses on savings, spending and how to manage our budgets. Other subjects also addressed are sustainability, digitalisation and cybersecurity (19.78 %); products and services of investment (15.52%); banking products and services (13.43%); insurance (10.48%); and rural enterprise and world (7.37%).

In particular, the goal is to educate those most vulnerable

CECA's member entities are aware of these needs and through their programmes they implement initiatives geared towards different generations and groups, with the goal of having a curriculum tailored to the demands of each group and addressing their needs more effectively. Furthermore, with the aim of contributing to accelerating progress towards an inclusive economy, for years the CECA sector has been developing a wide range of measures to promote financial and digital education in society, especially in rural areas and for groups at risk of exclusion.

Centennials (born at the turn of the century) and the alpha generation (born in the early 2010s) are defined as digital natives. They move like fish in water with mobile devices and are used to digital payments. However, they are not shielded from fraud. The speed and irreversibility of many of these transactions leaves them at the mercy of cybercriminals' schemes without them being aware of it until it is too late. To raise awareness of the possibilities but also of the risks of these new technologies, 59% of the investment (€1.51 million) was earmarked for projects targeting people under the age of 25.

The CECA sector is aware that it is essential for the elderly to improve their level of digital literacy, but also their financial education. As a result, in 2023 there was a 24% increase in investment in programmes targeting seniors. In addition, activities geared towards this group increased by more than 48%, with over 3.6 million people benefiting from some of the more than 2,200 activities. Some of these are digital, but many of them are in-person initiatives throughout the entire country.

Bridging the social divide in finance

The inevitable advance of digitalisation offers clear advantages, but also poses specific problems for groups that are particularly vulnerable. With a firm commitment to leave no one behind, the 2023 budget for the promotion of financial literacy places special emphasis on specific groups: people at risk of social exclusion (47%), followed by people with special needs (28.21%) and training programmes for entrepreneurs (24.78%). A total of €1.34 million earmarked to provide financial education to those citizens most likely to be left unprotected in the event of a financial setback, with the goal of helping them learn how to make sound financial decisions.

The sum of all these education and training programmes empowers society as a whole. It produces financially competent citizens, free to make choices and aware of the implications of their decision-making. Because money - our money - is not a game.