Banks are an active and essential part of the daily life of most Canadians – more than 99 per cent of Canadians have an account with a financial institution — and so millions turn to banks every day for services and advice to help them save, plan for retirement, start businesses and buy homes.

Banks provide their customers with a wealth of educational material, information, tools and services to help them get and stay ahead financially. Banks also support financial literacy activities and initiatives in communities across Canada.

How Banks are Helping

Canadians who make healthy, long-term financial decisions help to build their own financial security and contribute to the strength of the broader Canadian economy.

At the same time, a lack of knowledge and understanding of the risks and benefits of financial products and services can lead to financial problems, increasingly so in a digital marketplace.

The banking sector has long recognized that it has a central role to play in supporting and strengthening financial literacy. Banks go well beyond this, too. Many banks in Canada are engaged in a variety of ways to strengthen the financial well-being of all Canadians. They do this by:

• providing financial support and volunteers for a variety of financial literacy programs run in communities across the country by educational and not‑for‑profit groups;
• creating their own financial education programs and services for clients and the public; and
• providing financial and volunteer support for the important work that not‑for‑profit credit counselling agencies do in local communities across Canada.

For its part, the CBA has provided financial literacy programs and information for decades, perhaps most notably through our two free, non‑commercial financial literacy programs, Your Money Students and Your Money Seniors. Both programs were developed in collaboration with the FCAC and align with the objectives of the National Financial Literacy Strategy.

Banks have long supported or offered programs to help improve financial literacy, with many listed here: cba.ca/financialwellness. Examples include:

• Talk with Our Kids About Money Day – Organized by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education and sponsored by Scotiabank, this program provides materials for both teachers and parents to serve as a catalyst for discussions about money
• MagnusCards – Sponsored by CIBC, this free app coaches people with cognitive special needs through everyday situations, including banking, grocery shopping, taking the bus or even doing laundry.
• The Prosper Canada Centre for Financial Literacy – Funded by TD Bank Group, the Centre is dedicated to supporting financial literacy capacity across Canada and helps organizations serving low income Canadians with training and program support.
• Entrepreneurship 101 - CIBC, in partnership with MaRS, developed this course covering the fundamentals of starting and building a new venture: testing the market, defining a business model, and organizing finances.
• Junior Achievement Programs – These popular programs are offered in schools and teach money management skills as well as business and entrepreneurship education. Several banks in Canada are supporters of Junior Achievement including CIBC, RBC, TD Bank Group, Scotiabank, National Bank of Canada and BMO Financial Group.
• Learning with Leo – Created by RBC, this free app is designed to provide practical and fun ways to teach children ranging from age three – six about the concepts and value of money. It includes game and activities that help them develop a foundation of basic money skills.
• Money Matters – Sponsored by TD Bank Group, Money Matters is a free financial literacy and education savings program for adult learners developed by ABC Life Literacy Canada.
• Help with Managing Money on Campus - with support from National Bank, the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education will be creating a program to help support the financial education and capability of university and college students. by National Bank, the Answer Bank offers articles and information for families, home-owners, students, and business owners.
  

Bank sector contributions to Canada’s National Strategy on Financial Literacy

The Government of Canada’s Make Change that Counts: National Financial Literacy Strategy is a call to action to make the financial ecosystem more accessible, inclusive, and effective for all Canadians. The banking sector is supportive of the strategy’s goals. The CBA submitted its recommendations on the renewal of the Strategy in January 2021: https://cba.ca/renewing-canadas-national-strategy-for-financial-literacy

Bringing financial basics to the classroom

Providing young Canadians with information and tools to understand the importance of money management at an early age helps build the skills they will use throughout their lives. Since 1999, banker volunteers have delivered over 8,700 seminars to more than 260,000 students across Canada, teaching them the basics of how to save, budget, and protect their money.

Your Money Students seminars are presented by bankers in the community volunteering their time and are available across the country in English and French. The program has been a centerpiece of the CBA’s financial literacy efforts for more than two decades, providing youth with the fundamentals of:

• Budgeting – choosing your goals and working towards them;
• Saving and investing – the benefits of compound interest and saving for the future;
• Responsible use of credit – how to manage credit and avoid credit traps; and
• Keeping money safe – recognizing fraud in our increasingly digital world and how to avoid it.

Learn more at www.cba.ca.

Improving the financial literacy of seniors

Updated in 2020, the CBA’s national financial literacy program for seniors, Your Money Seniors, provides information on cash management in retirement and how to avoid financial abuse and financial fraud.

Learn more at www.cba.ca.

The banks jointly support two free, non-commercial seminar programs: Your Money Students and Your Money Seniors. Both programs are developed in collaboration with the FCAC and delivered by bankers volunteering in their communities. Find out more at https://yourmoney.cba.ca.

Bank support for credit counselling

Banks have long supported non‑profit credit counselling agencies and the good work that they do to assist Canadians who need help managing their money. Banks provide volunteers for credit counselling boards and donate millions of dollars to support the work credit counselling agencies undertake in their communities to provide financial education and counselling.

Banks do not want to see their customers in financial difficulty and provide a number of resources and supportive measures to assist those who might need help in managing their money.

Individuals who are struggling are encouraged to talk to their bank and other creditors to find out their options. For example, banks may be able to help by providing advice, debt counselling and flexible loan repayment arrangements. They may also refer customers to a non‑profit credit counselling agency if they feel it would be helpful.

To provide Canadians with a simple way to quickly assess their financial health and find help if they need it, the CBA has collaborated with Credit Counselling Canada to offer the Debt Money Quiz. This simple "Yes" or "No" questionnaire, asks users a series of questions about their finances. The assessment covers preparing and sticking to a budget, relying on credit for everyday expenses and making minimum payments on credit cards. You can take the quiz at debtmoneyquiz.ca.