Financial education

When it comes to the wellbeing of society, financial literacy is one of our focus areas. By sharing our Swedbank competencies and skills, we help individuals and enterprises learn more about planning and handling their finances, saving for the future, and reaching their financial and life goals. We are actively involved in various financial literacy initiatives – some of them are our own Swedbank projects, and others are carried out together with trusted partners.

• Institute of Finance – team of finance experts with the main task of creating create content and providing expertise on financial literacy topics. They are co-authors of the successful financial literacy book for kids and families “Nauda un citas Cīruļu ģimenes lietas”, authors of educational content for various audiences, and constantly work to keep financial literacy topics on the public and media agenda.
• School program “Ready for Life” – a connection platform that gives an opportunity for employees from different companies to become lecturers in schools, giving classes about various topics. Swedbank is the founder and supporter of this program; Swedbank employees every month provide 20+ lessons about financial literacy which are very well received.
• Finance Lab – a creative and exciting space in Swedbank Central building in Riga for schoolchildren to learn more about money and finances. Every year hundreds of students take part in our 2-hour program where they go through different tasks to learn more about the world of finances.

Entrepreneurship promotion

Swedbank strives to inspire communities and individuals to explore entrepreneurship as well as connect and support current entrepreneurs, and thereby increase individual and societal growth. We achieve this through projects and initiatives that provide skills and knowledge to upcoming or existing entrepreneurs, create networking opportunities, and give tools for businesses to work faster and more effectively. We also cooperate with educational programs to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among young people and give them a chance to try out what entrepreneurship is all about.

• Strategic partnership with Junior Achievement Latvia. In a bid to facilitate schoolchildren’s practical knowledge of business principles and to strengthen entrepreneurial skills, Swedbank is one of the main supporters for the Student Company programme in Latvia.
• Entrepreneurship Experience Days. A weeklong series of educational and networking events in November, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. Organised by Swedbank together with local partners, this event gives an opportunity for enterprises across all Latvia to gain new knowledge, skills and contacts, as well as visibility and inspiration for future work.
• Coworking space DoBe and partnership with Latvian start-up and fintech community. Swedbank provides a coworking space for promising early stage start-ups, publishes a yearly fintech industry report as well as runs regular events and activities together with TechChill and other start-up community partners.

Sustainable society

Swedbank is deeply committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and therefore all sustainability aspects – social, environmental and governance – are integrated in our sustainable society projects and initiatives. Education, environmental and cultural heritage protection, inclusion and diversity are areas where we see that our contribution is the most needed and therefore, we work tirelessly to co-create projects and initiatives with a long-lasting positive impact. 

• Mission Possible (“Teach for all” partner in Latvia) is a nation-wide initiative aimed at establishing education as a value in Latvia through helping talented higher education institution graduates to become inspirational teachers and future leaders. The objective of Mission Possible is to raise the status of the teaching profession and to boost students’ motivation to study and become active members in, and builders of, society. In addition to financial contributions to this program, Swedbank has actively contributed with the competence and resources of its staff.
• Song and Dance festival movement. Swedbank is the Major Partner and supporter of the Latvian traditional Song and Dance festival – a nationwide festival of singing, dancing, folk music and traditional arts and crafts which takes place every four years. Thousands of people come together for this festival as singers, dancers, participants, and audience, and Swedbank is always there to show our support, friendship, and admiration.
• Opinion and democracy festival LAMPA. Popular and beloved festival taking place in Cēsis every summer. Swedbank is a proud co-founder, supporter and participant of the festival, creating a diverse program of discussions and workshops on our Sustainability stage and creating sustainability-related activities for teenagers and youngsters.
• Podcast “Tērējam gudri!” (“Let’s spend it wisely!”) Swedbank produced, recorded, and published a podcast about different sustainability topics and all the various ways that sustainability is connected with money, saving and spending.
• Anti-bullying campaign “Neklusē!” (“Do not keep silent!”). Social initiative with the aim of reducing bullying in schools by creating educational content and activities for teachers, as well as providing an easy-to-use app for everyone suffering from bullying.