TORONTO - Scotiabank today launched Let the Saving Begin, a new program designed to inspire and empower Canadians to get on track with their saving, investing and borrowing habits.   

“Ninety-four per cent of Canadians say they feel better when they have a safety net of savings, however, nearly one-third do not have a plan in place to achieve their savings goals,” said Chris Hodgson, Group Head Canadian Banking, Scotiabank.  “We are committed to helping Canadians start saving again, to get ahead financially and stay ahead.

“We’re on a mission to encourage Canadians to save more of their hard-earned money and we can help,” said Mr. Hodgson. “It’s time to Let the Saving Begin.”

Built on three simple principles, Let the Saving Begin rallies Canadians to:

• Save automatically, because it works;
• Invest for your future, because no one else will; and
• Borrow to get ahead, not fall behind.

“Canadians have told us that an extra $1500 in annual savings would make a difference in their financial well-being,” said Mr. Hodgson. “Whatever savings goals people set, we want to work with them to get there. Saving is about making small changes that, over time, make big differences.”

To further heighten awareness about the importance and ease of saving, Scotiabank has recruited well-known Canadian personality, Valerie Pringle, to act as Scotiabank’s Saving Ambassador. Ms. Pringle will travel across the country to speak with Canadians about the challenges they face when trying to put money aside.

“Canadians want to save more, but with so many demands on their wallets they may not always feel it’s possible,” said Valerie Pringle, Scotiabank Saving Ambassador.  “Over the next couple of months, I’ll be working with Scotiabank to listen to Canadians about the challenges they face and successes they have had when it comes to saving. It’s about time that we focus our attention on the critical issue of financial health and I am proud to be working with Scotiabank to help Canadians Let the Saving Begin.”  

Before beginning her cross-country tour, Ms. Pringle will join Mr. Hodgson later today in Toronto to officially launch Let the Saving Begin.  As part of the kick-off, Scotiabank employees will take to the streets to distribute saving ‘kick-starts’ to thousands of Torontonians. Teams will hand out gift cards towards items such as coffee, snacks, gas and groceries. Scotiabank encourages Torontonians to Let the Saving Begin with the money they would have spent on their purchase. Scotiabank will also be offering a ‘saving bonus’ to congratulate customers who have taken steps to save automatically. Customers can earn up to 10 per cent extra on the amount they save over a 12-month period as a bonus to help bring them closer to their savings goal.

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With close to 68,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve approximately 14.6 million customers in some 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a diverse range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With more than $526 billion in assets (as at April 30, 2010), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS). For more information please visit hwww.scotiabank.com.

Note: All statistics referenced are from a recent Scotiabank study assessing the savings habits of Canadians. The Scotiabank Spring Savings Study was conducted online using Harris/Decima’s online panel. A total of 1,006 completed surveys were collected from a random sample of panel members across Canada. The study was conducted from March 26th, 2010 to March 31st, 2010. 

This was a standard panel survey among a random sample of Harris/Decima’s Canadian panel members. In a fashion similar to a telephone study, email addresses from Harris/Decima’s panel were pulled at random, according to population and gender specifications, in order to make the study representative of the Canadian population by region and gender. When contacted to solicit participation, participants had no prior knowledge of the subject matter of the study. Harris/Decima controls access to the study through passwords to ensure that respondents can participate only once. Subsequent to completion of the study, the data was weighted by region, age, and gender.

BACKGROUNDER: Scotiabank Savings Poll

Saving an additional $1,500 per year

• Saving an additional $1,500 per year would improve the financial well-being for the majority of Canadians (72 per cent).

Attitudes towards saving

• Canadians agree that they feel much better when they have a safety net of savings (94 per cent).

•  Sixty-eight per cent of Canadians have a plan in place to achieve their savings goals.

•  Nearly one-quarter (23 per cent) of Canadians like to live day-to-day and do not worry about saving money.

Importance of saving money

•  Having a safety net in case of emergencies is the primary reason (43 per cent) Canadians save money.

Rainy day money

•  A third of Canadians (33 per cent) have an amount equal to three months or more of their household expenses saved.

•  A quarter of Canadians (25 per cent) have saved an amount that is between one and three months of their household expenses.

•  Just about a quarter of Canadians (23 per cent) have less than one month of their household expenses saved.

•  Nearly one-in-five Canadians (19 per cent) have no rainy day money saved.

Willingness to make changes