Banca Intesa and its customers help Serbia's most vulnerable children by donating to UNICEF

Belgrade, 02/08/2023 – As part of its digital banking mobile app, Banca Intesa has enabled its customers to use the new Donate via App feature when making digital payments to round off the amount and donate the difference to UNICEF and, in doing so, help programmes for Serbia’s children who are at the highest risk of poverty.

UNICEF’s data shows that one in ten children in Serbia live in poverty and that their number is increasing due to the effects of global crises. This means that many children are unable to satisfy their basic life needs. Families with young children, children from Roma families and children living in rural areas are particularly vulnerable. Childhood poverty has serious consequences for the overall development of children, while, at the same time, negatively impacting the building of human resources needed for sustainable economic development. With only 17% of children living in Serbia, UNICEF in Serbia says that now, more than ever, strong support needs to be provided to our most precious asset by investing in every child in the areas of health care and social welfare, education and through effective poverty reduction programmes.

The innovative Donate via App feature enables Banca Intesa customers to support UNICEF in the fight against child poverty in Serbia in a very simple manner. When entering a particular payment amount as part of the mobile app payment order, mobile banking users are automatically offered the option to donate funds, with no additional costs. The amount that can be donated for children is rounded up to the nearest hundred, up to 100 dinars, and the difference is directly transferred to the UNICEF Serbia account.

Since Banca Intesa has over 550,000 mobile banking users who make almost two million payments a month, its customers’ small contributions will be of great importance to the most disadvantaged families and children.

"I am extremely proud that, just a few months after launching the innovative Donate via App feature as part of Banca Intesa’s digital banking app, we have now enabled our customers to donate their money to UNICEF, our long-standing partner. Donations of small amounts when making payments via the mobile app have proved to be a very simple and sustainable form of support to the non-profit sector, and our customers’ involvement in the bank's socially responsible activities is also shown to be a good example of positive practice by the fact that more than 1,200,000 dinars in donations has been raised in just one month to help disadvantaged children in Serbia," said Željko Petrović, member of the Executive Board and Head of the Retail Division.

Banca Intesa and UNICEF have a rich history of successful partnership in Serbia. Intesa was the first corporate donor to the school violence prevention programme (2005), and the first bank to enable the receipt of donations to UNICEF via payment cards (2006). Among UNICEF's regular monthly donors through a standing order, Banca Intesa's customers are the most numerous. Since 2019, the bank has been a member of the UNICEF Business Council, whose mission is to encourage the business community to commit to doing more for the benefit of children. In 2022, Banca Intesa was the first company in the region to evaluate family-friendly policies and practices based on UNICEF's methodology, and, in 2023, it financially supported the programme to support the establishment and development of the National Platform for training professionals in the area of family-oriented early interventions aimed at supporting the optimal development and inclusion of children.

"We would like to thank our long-standing partner Banca Intesa for enabling its customers, as part of its operation in a competitive environment, to support Serbia’s children. Donating via mobile banking for the benefit of children and the community, which is implemented by Banca Intesa under its digital agenda, provides an example of good practice in creating business processes and products that have a noble purpose. The results we achieve together owing to this valuable support show how important it is to foster a culture of investing in the most precious asset we have – our children", said Vesna Savić, Fundraising Specialist at UNICEF.