THE bank which turned children on to savings now hopes to teach the elderly about money, through a new partnership to serve the financial needs of senior citizens.

There will be three key initiatives under the agreement between POSB and the Council for Third Age (C3A), announced yesterday at the bank's branch in the Toa Payoh Hub: hiring elderly workers, providing financial education, and giving privileges to seniors.

POSB has more than 3.5 million customers, of whom 1.25 million are aged 45 and above.

In the first initiative, the Active Neighbours Programme, it will hire about 60 people over the age of 45 to help older customers with transactions, for example, showing them how to use an ATM.

The new hires will work five hours a day, twice a week, and earn $8 an hour.

The programme offers seniors the chance to contribute to society, said the managing director and head of consumer banking group at DBS bank, Mr Rajan Raju.

On the receiving side, they are also more comfortable learning how to use technology from their peers, said the chief executive of C3A, Mr Henry Quake.

POSB said it is looking for seniors with good communication skills, and who preferably speak more than one language.

The second initiative aims to educate them through regular talks on financial matters including retirement and estate planning, insurance and wills.

Many retirees unwittingly bought high-risk financial products linked to Lehman Brothers, such as DBS High Notes 5, and lost large chunks of their life savings when the investment bank went bankrupt last year.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times