- Young people in Romania are attracted by modern financial instruments, but they need a better financial education, shows a survey of Banca Comercială Română.
- 63% of teenagers (14-19 years old) went to a bank during the last three months, but over 80% of young people between 14 and 25 years old have learned how to manage their money in the family, while only 15% have learned it in school.
- Young people would like to be offered the latest generation banking services, such as phone payments (55%) and fingerprint authentication (71%).
The survey “Young People’s Perception of the Romanian Banking System”, conducted by Banca Comercială Română (BCR), offers an image about the current knowledge level and behaviour of young people in Romania, in regard to financial institutions.
Thus, 57% of Romanian young people aged 14-19 are bank customers, and the percentage increases to 92% for the age segment of 20-25 years old. 51% of the young people aged 20-25 are employed, and 58% earn at least 1,000 lei, which determines them to supplement their income with money from their families (47%), and the total percentage of people receiving money from their families in this age group is 67%. This is also one of the reasons why, for all the young people under the age of 25, financial education comes mainly from the family (80%), while school only accounts for 15%.
“Providing a financial education to young people is one of the strategic priorities of Banca Comercială Română. That is why, we have decided to get more and more involved in developing dedicated programs, meant to encourage young people to take control of their lives, as early as possible, to think responsibly, analytically, and entrepreneurally.
We need to prepare the new generation for the challenges of society, especially the Romanian one, which is still in full readjustment. This is also the reason why, for the fifth consecutive year, BCR has organized, during the summer, two distinct paid internship programs, one for high school students and one for college students, in which a few dozen young people across the country have learned from within the largest bank in Romania what financial responsibility means and how the banking system works” declared Ionuț Stanimir, spokesperson for BCR.
The survey “Young People’s Perception of the Romanian Banking System” was conducted at the end of August, among and with the support of young participants in the Summer Job and Learn@BCR programs; 1,968 valid questionnaires were collected, 32% of them in Bucharest, and 68% in the rest of the country.
Here are some interesting conclusions resulting from this survey:
- 63% of the 14-19 year olds went to a bank in the last three months, and this percentage goes up to 78% for the 20-25 year olds.
- 66% of the young people with ages between 14 and 25 hold a current account with a bank in Romania, 45% hold a debit card, and about 30% use Internet banking
- 44% of the 20-25 year olds use Internet banking, and this percentage decreases to only 14% for those aged 14-19. Mobile banking is used by 29.5% (20-25) and 12.5% (14-19)
- However, 29% of the young people aged 20-25 use the Internet to pay invoices and make transfers, and 59% make various purchases online, while the percentage goes up to 40% in the case of teenagers (14-19 years old)
- The main complaint of young people about a bank concerns the quality of services and staff (30%), followed by low interest rates and fees charged (15%) and trust (10%)
- In terms of innovative solutions, 71% of the young people would like to use fingerprint authentication (71%), to make payment by smartphones or smartwatches in stores and restaurants (55%), and contactless payments in stores (37%)
- As far as the source of income is concerned, 74% still receive money from the family (both age groups), and 81% receive these funds in cash
- Regardless of the source, the money is spent mainly on clothing and footwear (82% for the age group of 14-19 year olds, 81% for the 20-25 year olds), on going out (81% - 14-19 year olds, 84% - 20-25 year olds), or personal care needs (74% - 14-19 year olds, 80% - 20-25 year olds)
- If they could save money, young people would save for vacations (67%), studies or specialized courses (44.5%), and clothing (37.7%)
- When connected to the Internet, young people use social networks (87%), search information (87%), listen to music (78%), use messaging applications (70%), send or receive e-mails (62%), watch TV channels or films (58%), make online transactions (46%), and read the online newspapers (45%)
- Over 53% would like to work while being in school, whereas 35% would like to find a job after graduation.
- For their first job, young people would like a salary between 1,000 and 1,500 lei (31%), 1,500 and 2,000 lei (25%), and over 2,500 lei (21%) In the case of the 20-25 years old age group, their expectations for salaries over 2,000 lei are slightly higher.
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Banca Comercială Română (BCR), a member of Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, including universal bank operations (retail, corporate & investment banking, treasury and capital markets), as well as companies in industries such as leasing, private pension, and mortgage banks. BCR is the no. 1 bank in Romania based on the value of the assets (EUR 14.4 billion), the no. 1 bank based on the number of customers and the no. 1 bank for the savings and loan segments. BCR is the most valuable financial brand in Romania by customer trust and by the number of people for whom BCR is the main institution for banking services.
BCR offers its entire range of financial products and services by means of 22 business centres and 23 mobile offices dedicated to companies and 510 retail units in most of the cities throughout the entire country with more than 10,000 inhabitants. BCR is the no. 1 bank in Romania on the banking transaction market, BCR customers benefiting from the largest national ATM network - more than 2,000 dispensers - and the largest national POS network - 13,500 credit card terminals, as well as from comprehensive Internet banking, phone-banking and e-commerce services.
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Erste Group is one of the main financial service providers in the Eastern part of the European Union. 46,500 employees serve 16.2 million customers within 2,800 branches in 7 countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia). At the end of the first quarter of 2015, Erste Group had total assets amounting to 202.6 billion Euros and had a cost/income ratio of 56.1%. The Tier 1 Common Capital Ratio (Basel 3 completely implemented) amounted to 10.2%.
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BCR - External Communication
Ionuţ Stanimir, e-mail: ionut.stanimir@bcr.ro
This information is also available on our website: www.bcr.ro
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