In partnership since 2000 with Operation Hope Inc (OHI) – a programme aimed to offering people in marginalised neighbourhoods simpler access to financial services and promoting awareness of financial matters in urban areas that are sparsely banked – the Californian branch of the Group has renewed its support in 2008 by providing the organisation with 750,000 USD.

Several financial education initiatives are supported by Bank of the West, such as Banking on our Future (BOOF) aimed at schoolchildren between the ages of 9 and 18, or the Hope Centres Initiative: spaces where education and financial assistance are available, free of charge, to adults, particularly in regards to their occupational plans or access to property. About fifty members of staff have already taken part in the programme, teaching more than 2,500 pupils over some 300 hours. On 23 January, Don MacGrath, President of Bank of the West, was invited by Georges W. Bush to join the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy recently created by the White House.

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