Count on Banco de Chile (“Cuentas con el Chile”) Financial Education and Wellbeing Program

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A differentiating element for Banco de Chile is its commitment to quality financial education, which is carried out through the following initiatives:

The Count on Banco de Chile Financial Education and Wellbeing Program, which is designed to contribute to financial education and inclusion through diverse initiatives, including: digital financial education, face-to-face financial education and financial education mentors. In 2020 this initiative trained more than 4,634 entrepreneurs, including micro-entrepreneurs, SMEs, industry leaders, neighborhood councils, immigrants, university and high school students from different regions around the country.

As part of this same program, in April the bank set up a free online platform (Digital Financial Education) in partnership with the País Digital Foundation so that students and school teachers could take a digital course to foster healthy financial habits, such as savings and responsible spending. As of December, 38 schools and 3,415 students in the Santiago Metropolitan Region as well as other regions throughout the country have signed up for the program. As of year end, 29 schools had completed the course and another three are still taking it.

In 2020, the bank held another sign-up drive for financial education mentors. For that, it drafted a training plan that included topics such as economics, savings, investing, information security and portability, among others, and fortified an inclusive initiative providing tools to adapt the presentations for persons with cognitive disabilities, hearing impairment and immigrants.

For 2021 the goal is to build a training plan led and executed by bank employees, strengthening the line of inclusive mentors and incorporating the Creole language. In addition, Banco de Chile donates surplus tax credits through the Work Scholarship system, regulated and supervised by the National Training and Employment Service (“Servicio Nacional de Capacitación y Empleo” or SENCE), to develop job skills especially in persons with disabilities, women and entrepreneurs. The curriculum also includes special modules on financial education. During the period, 821 persons with disabilities and entrepreneurs from 11 community organizations benefited from these contributions. Employees were encouraged to actively participate as volunteers to provide support to micro-entrepreneurs whose revenue was strongly impacted. Banco de Chile issued a special invitation to the Count on Banco de Chile Grant Program, aimed at contributing resources to promote the economic reactivation of micro-enterprise customers and Cajas Chile in areas especially hard hit by the pandemic.