Shinhan Financial Group opened a free children's financial experience class at the Korea Financial History Museum earlier this month. Twenty-four children of employees at 12 partner companies took part. The first-come, first-served slots filled up early.
The children worked through financial terms one by one, from mock stock trading to savings and exchange rates. Shinhan Bank employees serving as instructors offered explanations pitched to the children's level whenever they asked about difficult words.
Shinhan Financial, whose founding philosophy of "serving the nation through finance" holds that finance should benefit society, is working to narrow gaps in financial access through classes tailored to each age group.
Shinhan Financial has provided financial education to about 150,000 people since 2012 through children's financial experience classes, voice phishing prevention training, and youth employment and digital education programs, according to financial industry sources on the 26th.
The programs reach children, young adults, people with developmental disabilities, North Korean defectors and older adults. The content has also expanded beyond conveying financial knowledge to closing the digital divide and protecting financial consumers. "Financial education is not one-off philanthropy but a long-term project aimed at a range of generations and income groups," a Shinhan Financial official said. "It builds the ability to understand and use finance." (See related article on page 4)
