NATIONAL Commercial Bank (NCB) is celebrating its 175th anniversary by giving its customers 175 tips to “strategically plan their financial well-being”.

The tools, templates and advice are available from the “Put your best life forward” website (www.NCB175ways.com) about budgeting, spending, investing, borrowing, insuring and saving.

Jamaicans should commit themselves to developing sustainable personal financial habits that lead to success, said Sheree Martin, NCB's general manager for marketing.

The six areas are crucial to developing good financial habits that can help determine quality of life, said Belinda Williams, NCB's group corporate communications manager.

“Regardless of what's happening in the economy, we all have to look ahead,” she said. The information in the campaign is “practical and rewarding” and builds “a foundation from which to manage the ups and downs of everyday life”.

The bank launched the campaign as a way to contribute to people's financial well-being after researching how best they could serve their customers, Williams said. “We have to assess ourselves in terms of our relevance to our customers.”

NCB is not the only institution interested in educating the public on money matters. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) started a financial literacy survey two weeks ago to find out how much Jamaicans know about monetary issues.

The regulator said it hopes to work with the industry to deal with any problems the survey uncovers.

NCB said it was willing to join a programme to teach the wider population about personal finance, but that its own customers would be its first priority.

“We're not averse to partnering with the FSC,” Williams said. “We welcome conversation and collaboration with them about this.”

The campaign will eventually include competition, training and seminars, but Williams said there is no way to determine how long the bank will keep it going.

“Our change will be driven by the customer's needs,” she said. “As long as it remains relevant to the customer, we will continue to do it”.