Union Bank Opens Fifth High School Branch and First with El Monte Union High School District at Mountain View High School

Student bankers receive hands-on training and learn life skills,
reflecting financial education desires of parents nationwide

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Union
Bank today announced the grand opening of its fifth student-run
branch and the first in partnership with the El Monte Union High School
District at Mountain View High School located at 2900 Parkway Drive in
El Monte, California.

The high school branch is part of an innovative program designed to
provide students with real-world financial education, work experience,
and mentoring opportunities. Located inside the Mountain View High
School campus, the student-run branch is staffed by 10 student bankers
who acquire skills in finance, as well as teamwork, leadership and the
hands-on experience of working in a bank overseen by a seasoned Union
Bank branch manager.

Traditional banking products and services are available to students,
school staff, school administrators, and teachers. As part of their
learning curriculum, the student bankers offer financial education
workshops and classroom presentations to their peers in an effort to
expand the learning experience to other students at the school.

“The Mountain View student-run branch is a milestone, and we are
thrilled to partner with Union Bank and participate in this program,
which is vital to providing hands-on learning for our students,” said
Larry Cecil, Mountain View High School principal. “In addition to the
valuable money management skills they are learning, this experience is
helping them to become young adults who know how to work together,
interact with customers, and adapt to real-world situations, all life
skills that they will use after graduation and beyond.”

The students also attend classroom finance classroom sessions led by
Mountain View High School Instructor, Mary Boutte. In addition to
building skills in finance, leadership, management and marketing, the
students receive a $500 stipend for working in the branch and a $1,000
scholarship for college when the course is completed.

About the Mountain View Branch Team

Anthony Barrios, an El Monte native, manages the Mountain View branch.
He has nearly a decade of banking experience and has been with Union
Bank since 2007. Barrios graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a
bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. He is joined by 10 student bankers
and Branch Service Officer Sergio Martinez, who has been with Union Bank
since 2000. Martinez, who also volunteers with Junior Achievement to
support financial education, is fluent in English and Spanish.

The branch is open during the school year Tuesday through Friday from 10
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The branch offers traditional banking products and
services, such as checking and savings accounts, and ATM and debit
cards, for students, faculty, and administrators.

Financial Education – What Parents Want

To gain further insight into financial education trends, desires and
views from parents and guardians across the country, Union Bank recently
commissioned a national study conducted online by Harris Poll in March.
The majority (95 percent) of parents/guardians with a child under 18
living in the household want their children to learn more about how to
save money but only 36 percent strongly agree their children have
adequate resources for learning how to be financially responsible by the
time they’re 18.

“The bank’s recent study confirms the importance of having appealing
resources for our youth to learn financial responsibility,” said Union
Bank Managing Director and Regional President Leticia Aguilar. “We
remain passionate about providing valuable financial management skills
through our high school branches. Union Bank recognizes that empowering
students with life skills that will serve them well in the future
ultimately strengthens our communities.”

Additional results from the nationwide survey reveal that the majority
(56 percent) strongly agree that it’s very important for their children
to have a savings account, 79 percent say their children should spend
less of their money in order to save more and 58 percent agree their
children want to talk more with adults in their life (e.g., parents,
teachers) about how to save money*.

“We’re finding that the student-run branch program helps foster
discussions about money between students and their peers as well as with
adults,” said Union Bank Managing Director Jan Woolsey who oversees the
program. “Encouraging conversations about money management has been part
of the success of the program. The students are learning a lot, but
parents, other students, friends and family in general, also learn from
them. This program is sparking interest in what we hope remains a
national dialogue.”

Union Bank Student-Run Branches

Union Bank opened its first student-run branch in 2011 in Fresno,
California at McLane High School. As a result of the success achieved
through that program, in 2014, the bank introduced the concept to two
high schools in the Greater Los Angeles area — Abraham Lincoln High
School in Lincoln Heights and Crenshaw High School in the South Los
Angeles area. In January, the bank announced a student-run branch at
Loara High School in Orange County. To date, more than 100 student
bankers have graduated from the program at the three schools in Fresno
and Los Angeles.

El Monte Union High School District

Located in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, the El Monte Union High
School District (EMUHSD) was established in 1901. Its high schools
include Arroyo, El Monte, Mountain View, Rosemead, South El Monte and
Fernando R. Ledesma High School. EMUHSD also features the El
Monte‐Rosemead Adult School, one of California’s largest and most
respected adult programs. The District employs more than 1,200
employees, and the professional staff provides educational programs for
more than 9,000 students in grades nine through 12 and 13,000 in adult
education. EMUHSD is proud to provide financial literacy, work
experience and mentoring opportunities to our scholars. We are very
appreciative of the partnership that we have with Union Bank. For more
information, visit www.emuhsd.org.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll
on behalf of Union Bank from March 1-3, 2016 among 442 adults ages 18
and older who are parents/guardians of children under 18 in their
household. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and
therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please
contact erika.montelongo@unionbank.com.

About The Harris Poll

Over the last five decades, Harris Polls have become media staples. With
comprehensive experience and precise technique in public opinion
polling, along with a proven track record of uncovering consumers’
motivations and behaviors, The Harris Poll has gained strong brand
recognition around the world. The Harris Poll offers a diverse portfolio
of proprietary client solutions to transform relevant insights into
actionable foresight for a wide range of industries including health
care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial
services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer packaged
goods. Contact us for more information.

About MUFG Union Bank, N.A.

MUFG Union Bank, N.A., is a full-service bank with offices across the
United States. We provide a wide spectrum of corporate, commercial and
retail banking and wealth management solutions to meet the needs of
customers. We also offer an extensive portfolio of value-added solutions
for customers, including investment banking, personal and corporate
trust, global custody, transaction banking, capital markets, and other
services. With assets of $115.4 billion, as of December 31, 2015, MUFG
Union Bank has strong capital reserves, credit ratings and capital
ratios relative to peer banks. MUFG Union Bank is a proud member of the
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NYSE: MTU), one of the world’s largest
financial organizations with total assets of approximately ¥295.8
trillion (JPY) or $2.5 trillion (USD)¹, as of December 31, 2015. The
corporate headquarters (principal executive office) for MUFG Americas
Holdings Corporation, which is the financial holding company and MUFG
Union Bank, is in New York City. The main banking office of MUFG Union
Bank is in San Francisco, California.

¹ Exchange rate of 1 USD=¥120.6 (JPY) as of December 30, 2015.

*In 2013, Union Bank commissioned a similar
study conducted by Harris Poll of more than 1,200 youth that
revealed 83 percent agreed they should spend less of their money in
order to save more, and 76 percent wanted to learn more about how to
save money. Eighty percent agreed it was very important for
someone their age to have a savings account, and the majority of U.S.
youth also wanted to talk more with the adults in their life (e.g.,
parents, teachers) about how to save money (63 percent) and wish they
had better sources of information about how to save money (61 percent).

©2016 MUFG Union Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC.

Union Bank is a registered trademark and brand name of MUFG Union Bank,
N.A.

Contacts

Union Bank
Tanya Peebles-Hill
T: +1-213-236-5329
E: tanya.peebleshill@unionbank.com
or
Erika
Montelongo
T: +1-818-425-0998
E: erika.montelongo@unionbank.com
@UnionBankNews