Center-invest Bank took third place in the “Social Project” category of the Banking Sector Awards held by the Russian monthly publication “Banking Review”. Assessing banks’ philanthropic activities and support for local communities, the competition organisers and judges deemed Center-invest Bank’s social and educational projects to be among the most effective.

This year there were 15 award categories. The panel of judges included respected and influential members of the banking community and market experts. The competition organisers said that given the challenges faced by the banking sector last year, it was especially interesting to see which banks, projects and solutions had been successful and who the sector’s opinion leaders were.

Center-invest Bank’s social and educational projects aim to increase the importance attached to quality education in Russia today and also to increase knowledge about the economy among broad sectors of the population. The projects encompass all the groups involved in education and academia: teachers, students, schoolchildren and recent graduates.

Center-invest Bank’s free online “Enterprise for All” course is a new and contemporary form of communicative mechanism designed to raise the financial literacy of the general public. More than 10,000 people have registered on the training portal to date, and 2,700 have already successfully completed the course and received a certificate.

In April 2014, together with Southern Federal University, Center-invest Bank set up a Financial Literacy Centre to provide free-of-charge advice for the general public. The centre enables members of the general public to learn about the modern financial world and to acquire the skills to make informed financial decisions, with an understanding of the potential risks and gains.