North Shore Credit Union executives are nurturing potential future clients by educating Grade 2 students about money management while simultaneously recruiting the kids as members.
Staff at the 12-branch credit union created a financial literacy program called Wishbank that both the West Vancouver and North Vancouver school districts and several private schools have adopted for use in the Grade 2 math curriculum.
Wishbank involves giving kids piggy banks that contain three pouches each: one for saving, one for spending and the other for sharing.
In addition to learning the basics of financial management, the kids are eligible to go to a NSCU outlet and get a VIP tour of the branch, including inside the vault – something sure to excite seven-year-olds.
“Our investment has really been more in the form of time from our different departments, the marketing department in particular, than dollars and cents,” NSCU CFO Bill Keen told Business in Vancouver.
The NSCU's assets have grown to approximately $2 billion today from $1.6 billion five years ago. During that time, it has added several branches as well as a couple dozen of its current 280 staff.
“We’re doing this No. 1 because we think it’s important to get our young members literate in financial affairs,” Keen said. “The sooner they start the better.”
by Glen Korstrom