App, Tutor and Social Networks: to each his own financial training
Many banking institutions now offer financial education, reaching out to various segments of the population, from young people to small and medium entrepreneurs, from freelancers to those who have founded a startup. But few banks set up programs designed to collect and measure the metrics of their interventions. Especially today that financial education is an established trend, the choice to publish short videos on social media like YouTube, "is a useful type of activity but does not enable the measurement of the impact generated. The financial education sector is ready, however, to kick off a new phase that takes the analysis of the results achieved into account. Only in this way, will it be possible to choose the tools and concepts best suitable for each specific segment of the population," says Laura Penna, head of group social impact banking at UniCredit. The Italian bank is bringing to high schools Startup your life, a platform created by the Milanese banking group that offers a complete three-year program with co-planning opportunities and discussions with entrepreneurs. Ninety hours of training for each path, during which it is possible to evaluate the cognitive evolution of young students. However, there are many tools at our disposal, equally in use in Italy and abroad.
What are these tools?
In account school, financial education can go through playful ways such as simulating street markets or more complex commercial activities, depending on the age. Webinars can be organized with adults in order for them to acquire financial concepts, such as the distinction between fixed and variable interest rates and understand when one or the other is more advantageous. Finally, there are digital tools available to private households to control the management of the family budget.
How do you choose the most suitable tool?
Starting from the three fundamental questions: who, what and how? If you talk to young people, you take stock of the communication channels most familiar to them, to instill the awareness that financial issues are important. If, on the other hand, we turn to the world of SMEs, the objective is to strengthen the skills on how to build a business plan or manage cash flows. Tutoring and mentoring activities are more effective in this case. An interesting example are the new apps, which however need users with advanced skills. I would add that there is another potential audience for financial education: so-called vulnerable individuals, those who are going through a difficult financial period or who have never received financial training.
In the later cases, it is not so obvious to be able to transmit technical information...
If you interface with an audience distant from the subject, it is essential to start by giving them the ABC of finance. Especially today with the boom in e-commerce and new formulas of installment payments, it is important that online consumers, young and old alike, know that these forms of payment can lead to over-indebtedness.
Head of group social impact banking at Unicredit, she graduated from Bocconi in Business Administration. Of her university studies, she remembers "the possibility of a fruitful discussion with teachers and fellow students and the construction of a large network, which still accompanies her in her personal and professional activities, as well as a rigorous study method, a structured approach to problems, and a critical spirit that makes you go beyond the surface of things," concludes Penna," without forgetting the ability to read the overall context thanks to study groups, the many subjects included in the curriculum, and the kind of teaching that was always stimulating."