The Rush To Financial Literacy
April 22, 2010
Source: SmartFutures
In my last post I had a reference to Financial Literacy Education. In Europe this is known as Financial Capability. Many financial services companies are rushing to provide some type of financial education to existing and potential clients. What is behind the rush?
A number of developments converged to produce the 1000 year financial storm–
The global economic crisis, more complex investment choices and the shift of pension investment choices from the employer to the employee, when combined with widespread financial illiteracy, is causing increased stress among a significant number of the public.
Research suggests that 15–20 percent of employees have financial problems severe enough to negatively affect productivity. A financially stressed employee spends an average of 20 hours per month of work time on his/her personal financial problems.
The Case For Financial Education at the Workplace
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Too many people fail simple tests on the basics of compound interest and basic financial math. The result: poor financial decisions such as not investing in company-offered voluntary investment plans. This worsens individuals’ financial condition and puts their retirement at risk.
Many financial services companies, banks, credit unions and financial advisory firms are offering a variety of financial literacy education resources.
Some examples in the US
Bank Of America FINANCIAL TOOLS
Wells Fargo HANDS ON BANKING
CitiBank FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
Examples from Europe
Barclay’s BUILDING FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
Halifax MANAGING YOUR MONEY
Caixa Galicia SECURE YOUR FUTURE
Some are critical of these programs. They indicate the motivation is to restore the tarnished reputations of the financial services sector. Perhaps, but the educational services offered do assist in helping individuals to improve their knowledge of financial matters.
This subject is important enough to warrant additional posts in the future.
ANZ Bank, the Spirit and the Letter
March 4, 2010
I enjoy finding a corporate website that stands out from the crowd. My latest finding is ANZ, one of the largest companies in Australia and New Zealand, and a major international banking and financial services group.
The first section I always look for is About Us
The About Us landing page is comprehensive and well designed. Personally, I would like Corporate Governance to be more prominent, but it is available via the related links section from the landing page.
Once in Corporate Governance, let’s look at what is displayed in this section.
At the top is this statement–
In relation to corporate governance, ANZ’s Board seeks to:
- embrace principles and practices it considers to be best practice internationally;
- be an ‘early adopter’, where possible, by complying before a published law or recommendation takes effect; and
- take an active role in discussions regarding the development of corporate governance best practice and associated regulation in Australia and overseas.
The second and third bulletpoints are remarkable. This is a company that wants to go beyond the “letter of the law”.
The Corporate Governance section Is very comprehensive; however you have to download PDFs to access the information. Regular readers will know that I would prefer the information to be displayed online with PDF as another option. A must see is the the Continuous Compliance Policy (PDF) which is an explanation of the company’s objective of going beyond Compliance Regulations.
Another interesting element of this site is the Our Company section that is actually the detailed About Us section, and quite a good one at that.
Click on Our Businesses and you get a more detailed description of functional and geographic areas of the company.
View Management to obtain a comprehensive background on senior managers.
Select Our Profile to learn more about the company’s strategy, and more.
A noteworthy section nestled within the Corporate Responsibility section is the company’s commitment to enhancing Financial Literacy. This subject is getting global attention due to the demise of personal pensions and the worldwide economic crisis. The company offers extensive education.
In partnership with some of the most trusted community organisations in Australia and New Zealand, ANZ has developed a number of programs that address issues of financial literacy and inclusion. Find out more about our programs:
- MoneyMinded – an adult financial literacy education program
- Saver Plus – a matched savings program for people on low incomes
- Progress Loans – a program offering small loans to people on low incomes
- MoneyBusiness – a program to improve levels of financial literacy in indigenous communities
Action on financial literacy and inclusion doesn’t only help the community – it helps ANZ too. Find out why.
This commendable suite of programs deserves to be prominently displayed on the homepage. (More about financial literacy in future posts).
But most interesting is the desire to go beyond “the letter” of compliance to “the spirit” of best practice.
What Makes for Effective Investor Relations Sites? Part 4: Share Price Charts
October 20, 2009
Last week we focused on immediate share price information and today we will be looking at stock charts. At its very basic, a stock chart should clearly convey the price history of a stock over a defined period of time. So at a minimum, a line chart over the past year with a clearly defined axis showing the price is what investors can expect. Most companies also include a volume chart below the share price. Scottish and Southern Energy has a nice example of this simple approach and I’ve reproduced it below.
You will note that the charting page for Scottish and Southern Energy also includes a selection tool that allows investors to select the time period that they wish to view, ranging from intraday to five years in length.
This is the next iteration of choice for price charts and very helpful for someone thinking about purchasing the stock.
Taking it one step further, some companies also allow user selected dates to define the beginning and end of the chart. This makes sense for people who already own the stock as chances are most investors did not buy the stock on the one, two or five year anniversary of their looking at the chart.
A good example of this capability is the chart of Friends Provident Group, reproduced below, where I’ve arbitrarily chosen to look at the share price performance since the beginning of the year 2000.
A close inspection of the chart will also show that investors have the capability to chart against other companies (in this case, up to eight pre-selected companies), indexes and sectors.
As an investor, this is useful, because you always want to know “Compared to what?” however, it probably comes under the “Nice to have“ category as opposed to essential information.
Finally, a feature I really like, but which I don’t see that often, is illustrated on the chart from ENI. (If you really want to see a well-executed investor site, visit ENI’s site www.eni.it.)
Click image to enlarge
They have overlain their interactive chart with indicators of the release of corporate information. For example, by scrolling over April 24, 2009, you are able to see that the rise in their stock price coincided with the release of ENI’s first quarter 2009 results.
I find this particularly helpful when I look at a large rise or fall on a stock price chart as it often helps me understand what may have been causing the movement.
In this series:
Previous post: Share price information
Next post: Historical share price data
HSBC CEO Leaves London for Hong Kong
October 7, 2009
The HSBC brand is steeped in British culture and tradition. But what happens to the brand when the CEO moves to an office in Hong Kong?
That’s exactly what’s happening at HSBC. The reason for the move is simple — Asia is where the money is, and HSBC is following it. The company’s focus has shifted from Europe and the U.S. to Asia, and the CEO’s move shouts that new strategy to the world loud and clear. But what does that do to the existing HSBC customer base and the brand promise overall?
To many consumers, the HSBC CEO move and clear message of new focus and new direction could be perceived as a slap in the face — a “you’re no longer our priority” message. Of course, HSBC isn’t the first company to shift its focus in order to keep growing and remain profitable. And don’t forget that HSBC was founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai over a century ago. However, recent history has tied the company closely to the United Kingdom, a fact the company has promoted and even used as a fundamental component of its brand image. HSBC’s message in recent years has been one of differentiation. The company’s slogan, “the world’s local bank” didn’t come close to reflecting the company’s broader brand image that adamantly differentiated it from other finance companies of the world.
I’m sure HSBC will succeed with its new strategy of focusing on Asia and the East to continually grow shareholder value, but are there lessons to learn from this story? Is moving a CEO to another part of the world more symbolic in terms of changing the brand image than anything else?
It’s not surprising that HSBC is returning to its roots and following the money, but the CEO move makes the strategic shift more visible and “real” than any press release or executive speech ever could. I’m certain HSBC knew this when the decision was made.
The lesson to learn from this story? Sometimes actions speak louder and spread farther than words.
Image: Flickr
Are you going to this? Rebuilding Reputation
September 3, 2009
Anyone working within the financial services sector – or, indeed, anyone who reads a paper or watches the news – will be aware of the difficulties that this sector has faced over the last year or so.
How can companies within that sector rebuild their reputation and rebuild the trust that was once placed in them? What can companies from outside that sector learn from those companies who have gone through this experience?
Communicate Magazine have another very interesting conference scheduled for later this month on just this topic. They’re bringing together an intriguing slate of speakers from across the sector: from the International Centre for Financial Regulation; from Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Santander, ING, HSBC and Man Group; and from The Observer, BroadView and FinancialMarketing.
You can see the agenda and download a PDF here, but I can tell you that they’ll be covering topics such as:
- Is the relationship between the fourth estate and the banking community irretrievably broken?
- Were journalists just reporting a financial meltdown or were they exacerbating it?
- How to communicate change to an internal audience
- How to reposition your brand when people just want to talk about the past
- Getting the best out of your corporate messaging
As you can see, it’s not just relevant to the financial sector, though that will be the main focus; it looks as though corporate communicators from across the patch will find something to learn from the day.
I went to a recent Communicate Magazine conference (on Social Media in a Corporate Context) and found it fascinating – though exhausting. There’s a lot to be gained from being in the same room as people dealing with the same issues as you are, thinking about the same things…
Interested? You can learn more here.
And a discount for Corporate Eye readers
I’m delighted to announce that we’ve agreed with Communicate Magazine that Corporate Eye readers will receive a total of 20% discount. The early bird discount of 10% runs out at the end of this week, but as one of our readers, you get 20% – even after that date. Book now!
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