Money management

The Commonwealth Bank believes that all Australians should have the opportunity to develop money management skills.

The Commonwealth Bank recognises that people with good money management skills will help to build a more secure and financially stable Australia. That’s why we have been supporting financial literacy education for more than 70 years and we encourage our customers to have sensible credit practices.

Our research into financial literacy identified those with the lowest levels of money management skills and we now have programs in place to help these groups – young people and Indigenous communities – to become more financially literate.

Many of these programs are delivered and funded by the Commonwealth Bank Foundation.

Youth programs

The Commonwealth Bank has a long history of teaching Australia’s youth about banking. It is a tradition our money management programs continue today. We develop programs that are both engaging and effective and seek to measure student progress with a national quantitative assessment.

The StartSmart Program is aimed at students who are nearing the end of their time at school before heading into employment or further education. At this time in their life, these students are beginning to take responsibility for their own money making it a crucial time for them to develop their money management skills.

Our StartSmart programs run across Australia reaching over 40,000 students a year and through our Teacher Development Workshops we also provide support for teachers. The Foundation also supports teachers with its curriculum resources.

Financial Literacy Grants Every year we award grants of $3,500 to one hundred secondary schools across Australia. These grants are for school-based programs aimed at developing awareness, skills and understanding in financial literacy of students in Years 7 to 12. Any eligible secondary school can apply for a financial literacy grant.

DollarsandSense offers information on money management for young people. The DollarsandSense website is aimed at both teachers and youth. Teachers use the site as a resource to teach financial literacy while young people visit to learn about money management, using interactive tools with real life scenarios.

Student Banking provides fee-free banking accounts aimed at encouraging young people to save and providing the convenience of conducting their banking at primary school, teaching them the principles of banking and sound money management.

 

Indigenous programs

Our indigenous programs form a key part of our Reconciliation Action Plan. This plan outlines our commitment to helping to close the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians.

We support the ‘Manage your income, Manage your life' program run by Caritas Australia and Centacare in Wilcannia/Forbes, NSW. It teaches Indigenous communities about financial management and provides resources to develop these skills, including goal setting, budgeting and leadership. The program creates community role models who in turn teach income management skills to others.

‘Personal Finance and Consumer Assistance Training' is run in remote Indigenous communities across far-north Queensland. The Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN) manages the program which aims to teach money management skills such as debt management and offers guidance on using financial services.