Zagreb, 23 May 2019 – In little over four months since Erste banka launched the free national financial literacy programme called Smart Finance School, the Bank’s internal coaches have held a total of 150 workshops across Croatia, attended by more than 2,000 residents. Statistics show that women accounted for about 73% of participants of personal finance management workshops, and almost 70% of them have college or university degrees. Also, nearly 85% of participants confirmed that the workshops encouraged them to adopt certain good financial habits, such as keeping the budget, saving, managing their spending etc. Along with workshops, the programme also includes an interactive video training and is intended for all interested residents, aiming to encourage people to acquire knowledge and skills in personal finance management, consider their future life and financial goals and make them aware of their spending.

"We are very pleased that in such a short period of time the residents have recognized the quality of our CSR programme through which we wish to share our knowledge and help them become even more successful in financial planning. The residents’ feedback is very positive - they gave our workshop an average rating of 4.23, while they rated our coaches as high as 4.7, and this is a great motivation for us to continue with the programme. We have big plans and since we want to make this workshop available to all residents, right now we are working intensively on expanding the number of cities where the workshops are available,” said Boris Blažević, head of Erste banka’s Smart Finance School.

Free 120-minute educational group workshops include interactive and multimedia training on personal finance management, which is provided by more than 60 specially trained coaches – Erste banka employees from more than 20 Croatian cities. The workshop aims to make attendants familiar with simple tools for planning and managing their personal finance, tell them how to make thoughtful spending decisions and how to adopt simple saving habits. Apart from employees of companies, schools, associations and public sector, who had a chance to attend a number of other workshops, this workshop is also available to interested residents, who can apply online. Free workshops for residents in Bank’s premises are currently held in Rijeka, Zagreb, Split, Bjelovar, Pula, Zadar, and Osijek, in the afternoon.


For those who are unable to attend the workshops we have prepared a 15-minute video training. The video training follows the contents of the workshops in a fun and laid-back manner, informing the viewers about the simple and efficient tool “5 steps to successful management of personal finance”, which they can use on daily basis even after the training. The same as in workshops, the video training is coached by Erste banka employees – transaction advisor Tatjana Krznar and Head of Credit Risk Approval Zoran Stojanović.

Additional information:

Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d.

51000 Rijeka, Jadranski trg 3a

www.erstebank.hr

Corporate Communications Office

Zagreb, Ivana Lučića 2, e-mail: pr@erstebank.com

Dario Gabrić,  tel.: +385 (0)72  37 13 71; mob: +385 99 2371 371

Danijela Trbović,  tel.: +385 (0)72  37 15 31; mob: +385 99 2371 531

Lucija Lakoš, tel.: + 385 (0)72 37 24 01; mob: +385 99 2372 401