Collaborators

Landsbankinn supports and participates in numerous social initiatives that encourage development and progress in the community.

The Bank supports various causes with grants from its Community Fund, through direct support from branches to local ventures and mutually beneficial partnership arrangements. Landsbankinn endeavours to increase direct participation in the community by employees, including by providing expert advice on finance and innovation.

Emphasis is placed on ensuring varied support and that the Bank's contributions benefit many people. Through the diverse projects, Landsbankinn’s support reaches rescue service and accident prevention efforts, art and culture, sports, education and the campaign for LGBTQI+ rights.

Gulleggið

Landsbankinn sponsors Gulleggið, an annual innovation competition hosted by Icelandic Startups. The key goal of the competition is to create a platform for young entrepreneurs to practice and gain experience of shaping new business ideas and operating a company. As part of the competition, participants are offered courses, advice and specialist assistance with everything from shaping a business idea to budgeting to communication with investors.



More about Gulleggið

Rescue squad Landsbjörg

Landsbankinn is a main sponsor of Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg, the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (ICE-SAR). The Bank wishes to contribute to effective rescue service and accident prevention throughout Iceland. ICE-SAR is a national association of rescue and prevention squads and one of Iceland's largest volunteer associations. The aim of ICE-SAR is to prevent accidents and save human lives and valuables.



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Financial education


The department Business Solutions in Private Banking handles financial instruction to private individuals and supports efforts to increase financial literacy. Extensive coverage and education of economic and financial issues also takes place through Umræðan, Landsbankinn’s content and news site.

Over a span of several years, Landsbankinn has emphasised providing financial instructions to young people in upper secondary school, both younger students just embarking on their course of study and those about to finish school. This instruction is intended to contribute to increased financial literacy and prepare students for the future. The programme is available to all upper secondary schools and is carried out in collaboration with the schools' representatives.

In 2019, 48 visits were made to 13 schools throughout Iceland. A total of 1300 students received financial instruction. The Bank does not promote its products or services in financial instruction visits to school, only providing general financial advice.


Employees in the Bank’s Customer Service Centre have handled financial instruction in the capital area and employees in rural Iceland handle instruction in their communities. An effort is made to ensure that younger employees of Landsbankinn handle instruction to upper secondary school students in order to take advantage of peer mentoring.

Landsbankinn is an active participant in the project Fjármálavit, education material in financial literacy for older elementary school students. The project is under the auspices of the Icelandic Financial Services Association and the National Association of Pension Funds in collaboration with members and their employees throughout Iceland. Over a hundred employees from financial institutions, insurance firms and pension funds participated in the project last year, thereof 25 from Landsbankinn. Around 3000 10th grade students participated in the project in 2019. Since its launch five years ago, Fjármálavit has reached 20,000 students.



More about Fjármálavit

The Fintech Cluster

Landsbankinn is one of the founding members of the Fintech Cluster along with 62 other companies, universities, organisations and other entities. The aim of the Fintech Cluster is to promote innovation in finance and work to improve and facilitate business transactions of all kinds. The Cluster is a community of actors in finance who wish to encourage increased value creation, competition and improve daily life.

The Fintech Cluster will host events, such as meetings about the various aspects of financial technology (fintech), promote start-ups, fintech meet-ups and more. The Cluster will further the interests of fintech in other ways, such as by fostering connections between foreign enterprises and clusters, possible partners and various specialised projects.

 

More about the Fintech Cluster

Future programmers

The fund Future Programmers is a social initiative that aims to promote programming and technical education in Iceland’s elementary and secondary schools. The main goal is for programming to become a part of the elementary and secondary school curriculum. The Fund supports schools in their endeavour to offer programming courses, donates computer equipment to schools and advises on programming education and training for teachers. Landsbankinn is one of the Fund’s backers along with the Icelandic Banks' Data Centre (RB), the Ministry of Education, CCP, Icelandair and others.

 

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Skólahreysti - Fit for School


Landsbankinn is the main sponsor of Skólahreysti, a sports tournament for elementary schools, and an active supporter of the tournament. The aim of Skólahreysti is to encourage children to participate in a comprehensive sports experience based on the tenets of physical education. The popularity of Skólahreysti increases every year.


The competition was held for the 15th time in spring 2019 and 100 elementary schools from around Iceland participated. Skólahreysti is also sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Education, the Nordic Council of Ministers, Toyota and the Icelandic Sports Union and Olympic Committee.



More about Skólahreysti

Cluster initiative in tourism

Landsbankinn has participated in a tourism cluster initiative since the project was launched in 2012. The key goal is to increase competitiveness and value creation in the travel industry and the project is guided by the cluster methodology espoused by Michael Porter. Key companies in the travel industry, public entities and companies in tourism support branches or collaborative sectors all join forces in the cluster.



More about the Tourism Cluster

Svanni - Women's Loan Guarantee Fund

Landsbankinn and Svanni - Women's Loan Guarantee Fund collaborate to grant credit to women in business. The Fund and the Bank jointly guarantee the loans. Landsbankinn guarantees half of loan amounts and the Fund the other half, ensuring easier access to funding to female business operators and increasing the opportunity for women to establish companies. The partnership agreement is part of Landsbankinn's efforts to boost Icelandic industry and encourage innovation domestically.

More about Svanni

Gay Pride


Landsbankinn supports the Icelandic campaign for LGBTQI+ rights and has been a proud sponsor of Reykjavík Pride since the beginning. Reykjavík Pride marked its 20th anniversary in 2019 with the grandest festival yet.

In 2017, the collaboration was enhanced with the establishment of the Pride Parade Fund. The aim of the Pride Parade Fund is to support individuals and smaller groups to prepare floats and appearances in the Pride Parade and thus to encourage participation in Reykjavík Pride.

More about Reykjavík Pride

Kraftur

Towards the end of 2019, Landsbankinn presented Kraftur with a financial donation in the name of 876 companies deemed exceptional by Creditinfo. Kraftur is a support society for young cancer patients and their next of kin. Every year, around 70 individuals aged 18-40 are diagnosed with cancer and Kraftur provides both financial and emotional support to the patients and their families.



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IcelandSIF

Iceland Sustainable Investment Forum (IcelandSIF) was established in Iceland in November 2017. The aim of IcelandSIF is to promote awareness and discussion about the methodology of sustainable and responsible investment. Landsbankinn is one of 23 founding members of IcelandSIF. IcelandSIF is intended to function as an independent forum for discussion and education about responsible and sustainable investment.


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The Iceland Ocean Cluster


Landsbankinn is a partner of the Iceland Ocean Cluster, which aims to boost the competitiveness and value creation of Icelandic companies who utilise marine resources, directly or indirectly. Since its establishment, the Iceland Ocean Cluster has contributed to development and innovation in the sectors in the Cluster in cooperation with corporates and educational institutions and published various research and analysis papers. Around 60 companies and institutions in varied marine-related operations in Iceland are formally a part of the Cluster.



More about the Iceland Ocean Cluster

The Vigdís International Centre

In 2019, Landsbankinn supported the Vigdís International Centre which operates out of Veröld - Vigdís' House. The Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding was in November 2011 authorised to operate under the auspices of UNESCO.



More about the Vigdís International Centre