Unicaja and the CECA Foundation for Banks and Savings Banks (Funcas) have renewed their partnership agreement to promote financial education and literacy amongst the public, an initiative that both organisations have been pursuing since 2018. The agreement, signed by Unicaja’s CEO, Isidro Rubiales, and Funcas’s Director General, Carlos Ocaña, will enable the development of around ten initiatives throughout the academic year, with an estimated 30,000 beneficiaries.
The renewal consolidates Unicaja’s participation in the ‘Funcas Programme to Promote Financial Education’ (Funcas Educa), now in its eighth year. The aim is to improve the standard and quality of financial education for the public, enabling them to make informed decisions when managing their finances, in both traditional and digital environments. This programme contributes to achieving the objectives of the National Financial Education Plan, promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
The agreement is implemented through the Edufinet Project — promoted by Unicaja, together with Fundación Unicaja — which coordinates the training and awareness-raising activities included in the agreement. These initiatives are aimed at different audiences, with a particular focus on young people (children and teenagers) and vulnerable groups, such as older people. This activity builds on the work carried out by Edufinet for over two decades, as one of the country’s pioneering financial education programmes.
Among the planned initiatives, highlights include the 9th Financial Education Congress, the 18th Youth Conference, the 18th Financial Olympics and outreach activities, such as theatre performances tailored to this audience. The programme also includes the 6th EdufiKids Conference for primary school pupils and initiatives for pre-school children, such as theatre. Furthermore, worth mentioning are the 6th Conference for Senior Citizens and activities for this group in rural areas, such as the 4th Ambassadors’ Project or Senior Citizens’ Week. The agreement also includes, amongst other measures, the enhancement of technological resources to broaden reach and the production of publications to contribute to greater financial literacy.
These activities will take place throughout the academic year, combining face-to-face and online sessions tailored to different audiences, and across various autonomous communities, towns and rural areas.
Taken together, these activities aim to convey practical concepts relating to personal finance, saving, responsible investment, cyber security and fraud prevention, in a context characterised by the growing digitalisation of financial services and the proliferation of unreliable information on digital channels.
Unicaja’s CEO, Isidro Rubiales, emphasised that “financial education is a key element in enabling citizens to make informed financial decisions in their day-to-day lives at different stages of their lives, especially in an environment where access to information and digital services is constantly increasing”.
In this regard, he noted that “initiatives such as the Edufinet Project — which has established itself as a key benchmark in financial education — make it possible to bring this knowledge within reach of different groups in an accessible way, contributing to
greater financial and digital inclusion”. He also pointed out that the new agreement with Funcas will enable the scope of financial education initiatives to be further expanded.
For his part, the Director General of Funcas has stated that “financial education is key to improving citizens’ economic independence in an increasingly complex environment. It helps people make informed decisions about their personal finances and reduces their vulnerability to potential crises or fraud”.
Funcas and Edufinet
Funcas and CECA agreed in 2018 to launch the ‘Funcas Programme to Promote Financial Education’ with the aim of helping to fund financial education activities carried out by CECA member institutions, consolidating existing projects and promoting new ones. Edufinet, for its part, which collaborates with 18 universities and around ten organisations, is part of Unicaja’s social commitment and its sustainability strategy; it currently has two physical offices (in Málaga and Salamanca), from which it organises face-to-face and online sessions.
With 20 years of experience, its work has made it one of the most active players in the fields of financial education and inclusion. In fact, in 2025 it delivered nearly a thousand financial education sessions to more than 40,900 participants — a 35 per cent increase on the previous year — focusing on topics such as personal and digital finance, saving and responsible investment, and cyber security.
Furthermore, Edufinet has 220,000 followers on social media and subscribers on podcast platforms, recording over 13 million views on these platforms during the past financial year.
In 2025, Edufinet’s work was recognised with two new awards: specifically, two CECA Awards for Social Work and Financial Education 2024–2025.
