Hancock Holding Company Announces Five-State Financial Literacy Partnership

GULFPORT, Miss., March 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- With National Financial Literacy Month starting April 1, one of America's strongest banks and one of the nation's leading education technology companies are working together with local schools to teach money management skills that can make a big difference for students in class and life.

Leaders at Gulfport headquartered Hancock Holding Company today announced its financial literacy partnership with Washington, D.C., based EverFi, Inc., to provide more than 155,000 middle and high school students across the Gulf Coast with an interactive, web-based financial management program that reinforces classroom learning at no cost to schools or taxpayers: Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank Financial Cents.

Using new-media technology such as simulations, avatars, and social networking, Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank Financial Cents makes complex financial concepts more relevant and easier to understand. Company executives said the program emphasizes the importance of building a strong financial knowledge base at an early age.

"Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank have worked together with local people and communities to create opportunities for well more than a century. Establishing a solid understanding of financial basics can build opportunities for students in school and life," said President and CEO John M. Hairston. "Financial Cents is an extension of our broader financial literacy program and reiterates key points with fun technology familiar to students."

Hancock Holding Company operates as Hancock Bank in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and Whitney Bank in Louisiana and Texas. Across its five-state footprint, the company will offer Financial Cents at 200 public schools. Program launch events and student certification ceremonies will take place later this spring.

Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank Financial Cents includes more than six hours of programming with 10 units on financial topics such as credit scores, insurance, credit cards, student loans, mortgages, taxes, stocks, savings, 401ks and other critical concepts aligned with national financial literacy standards.

"It's a privilege for Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank to support local educators in shaping opportunities for our communities' young people. Financial literacy helps set students on a path to financial security and a successful life-teaching them to be good problem-solvers, life-long learners, and responsible, contributing citizens," added Hairston.

About Hancock Holding Company

Hancock Holding Company (Nasdaq: HBHC) is a multi-faceted financial services company with regional business headquarters and locations throughout a growing Gulf South corridor. With a heritage dating to the late 1800s, the company's banking subsidiary provides comprehensive financial choices through Hancock Bank locations in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and Whitney Bank offices in Louisiana and Texas, including traditional and online banking; commercial and small business banking; energy banking; private banking; trust and investment services; certain insurance services; mortgage services; and consumer financing. More information and online banking are available at www.hancockbank.com and www.whitneybank.com.

About EverFi, Inc.

EverFi, Inc. is the leading education technology company focused on teaching, assessing, and certifying K-12 and college students in the critical skills they need for life. The company teams with major corporations and foundations to provide the programs at no cost to K-12 schools. Some of America's leading CEOs and venture capital firms are EverFi investors, including Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Twitter founder Evan Williams, Rethink Education, New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), and Tomorrow Ventures (the investment arm of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt). More information is available at www.everfi.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hancock-holding-company-announces-five-state-financial-literacy-partnership-300055127.html

SOURCE Hancock Holding Co.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.