Bank of Ireland Launches Money Smarts Challenge

Bank of Ireland Youth Ambassador James Patrice is pictured at the launch of the Money Smarts Challenge with students Katie Farmer (15) from Castleknock, Colin Eiffe (13) from Rathcoffey and Rory Carty, Bank of Ireland’s Head of Youth Banking.

Have you got what it takes to win €25,000 for your school?

Introducing the Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge

Money Smarts Challenge will teach and test the financial literacy of Ireland’s secondary school students
18 regional finals across the country with the Grand Final in Citywest on 2 April 2020
€25,000 prize for winning team’s school and individual prizes for winning students
Money Smarts Challenge is part of Bank of Ireland’s five-year Financial Wellbeing Programme

Bank of Ireland today launched the Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge, a new secondary school competition that will see students learn essential Financial Wellbeing skills while competing for the chance to win the top prize of €25,000 for their school.

The Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge has been designed in conjunction with business studies teachers and Financial Wellbeing experts. Students will first learn about the core elements of financial wellbeing like spending, saving, earning, credit and debt. The second part of the day will put their new skills to the test in a fun and interactive quiz with eight rounds of money-related questions and conundrums. Two schools with the highest score from each regional final will compete in the Grand Final on 2 April in Citywest, Dublin.

Rory Carty, Head of Youth Banking, Bank of Ireland, commented: “It’s so important that we enable young people to make informed decisions and take charge of their own financial wellbeing. We know it’s not always easy to get teenagers engaged about money management and financial literacy so our new programme aims to teach them good financial habits through interactive content and real life scenarios. Our new secondary school competition puts what they have learned to the test with a bit of fun and the chance to win a fantastic prize of €25,000 for their school”.

Each school can put forward up to three teams for one of eighteen regional finals hosted by James Patrice which will take place between November 2019 and February 2020. Principals and teachers can find out more about the competition and register to take part by visiting boi.com/moneysmarts. Early registration is advised as places are limited.

In March 2019, Bank of Ireland launched a five-year Financial Wellbeing Programme to help people improve their financial literacy, capability and confidence, with €5 million earmarked for the roll out of the programme in 2019.

Ireland’s financial literacy is behind that of most comparable European countries, with just 55% of people in Ireland deemed to be financially literate. This compares to 67% in the UK, 66% in Germany and 71% in Sweden.* According to nationally representative research conducted by Bank of Ireland and Red C, one third (34%) of people in Ireland are very worried about personal finances, more than half (55%) have no pension, and one in four would last less than a month without having to borrow if they lost their main source of income.**

Money Smarts Challenge regional finals

Nov 4 – Breaffy House Hotel, Mayo
Nov 5 – Clayton Hotel, Ballybrit, Galway
Nov 11 – Radisson Blu, Letterkenny, Donegal
Nov 12 – Landmark Hotel, Carrick on Shannon, Leitrim
Nov 18 – Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan
Dec 3 – Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork
Dec 5 – Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick
Dec 12 – Killarney Convention Centre, Kerry
Dec 16 – Clonmel Park Hotel, Tipperary
Jan 14 – Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow
Jan 16 – Hotel Kilkenny, Kilkenny
Jan 20 – Amber Springs, Wexford
Jan 21 – Mullingar Park Hotel, Mullingar, Westmeath
Jan 23 – Tullamore Court, Offaly
Jan 27 – Newgrange Hotel, Meath
Feb 25 – Trinity College, Dublin
Feb 26 – Trinity College, Dublin
Feb 27 – Trinity College, Dublin

Grand Final

April 2 – Citywest Convention Centre, Dublin

ENDS

Notes to Editor

* Source: Global finance literacy survey by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services – responses from more than 150,000 adults in 140 countries (2014).

** To gauge the Financial Wellbeing of the people in Ireland, Bank of Ireland conducted nationally representative research among 2,770 people with Red C in 2018. This included customers and non-customers across a wide range of age demographics from all four provinces.

Bank of Ireland’s Financial Wellbeing programme includes tools for consumers and businesses to check their financial well-being score and is supported by an online Financial Wellbeing Centre and a new team of Financial Wellbeing Coaches. The Coaches work nationwide to deliver seminars and one-to-one meetings, educating consumers on money management skills.