This financial inclusion programme set up by SANFI, Banco Santander and the University of Cantabria has adapted its contents to a virtual environment, and is finishing the academic year with more than 40,000 followers on social media.

Madrid, 12 June 2020 - PRESS RELEASE

Finanzas para Mortales, a financial education programme set up by the Santander Financial Institute (SANFI), Banco Santander and the University of Cantabria, has adapted its entire training contents to an online environment to reach all people and groups interested in learning basic everyday concepts of finance, in the wake of the crisis and limitations caused by Covid-19. 

The volunteer instructors, mostly Santander employees, will continue to encourage financial education with customised sessions for these groups in live webinars where participants can interact with the instructors. 

58 pupils at the La Salle secondary school in Palencia were the first to make use of this new free offer of sessions to encourage financial education and inclusion. 

During the months of lockdown, the programme gave all users and volunteers a free MOOG on digital banking and big data in finance, and also launched the special #ImStayingAtHome campaign, during which volunteers produced more than 20 audiovisual pills on today's finance in accordance with the criteria suggested by the Bank of Spain and the CNMV on responsible finance.  

The digital revolution of Finanzas para mortales was boosted by new multimedia material for the entire community on social media, where the initiative now has 40,000 followers, making it Spain's leading financial education programme. 

Moreover, prior to the declaration of a state of alarm, in the first quarter of the year the programme arranged 328 in situ training sessions attended by more than 2,500 participants. 

Banco Santander and its commitment to financial inclusion

Last year Santander provided financial training for over 580,000 people on various finance programmes in a number of countries. In addition to a commitment to provide access to bank accounts and basic financial services for groups outside the banking system by means of adapted financing products, the bank has also taken a further step to ensure that people are also able to administer their finances and take the best possible decisions.

For the last eight years Santander has been running the Finanzas para mortales programme in Spain, and also the Your finance, your future programme alongside the Spanish Banking Association. In 2019 alone, more than 1,300 financial education sessions were provided for young students and other groups with a risk of exclusion.

Santander Financial Institute (SANFI) and the UCEIF Foundation

Santander Financial Institute (SANFI) is a study centre specialising in finance, and intends to become an international reference in this area. The centre was created in 2012 through the signature of a cooperation agreement by Banco Santander, the University of Cantabria and the UCEIF Foundation.  

The University of Cantabria Foundation for Studies and Research in the Financial Sector (UCEIF) was set up in 2006 as a collaboration project between the University of Cantabria and Banco Santander with a view to becoming a national and international benchmark in generating and transmitting financial knowledge.