Scotiabank Saving Ambassador, Valerie Pringle to kick-off cross-country tour to talk savings with Canadians

• Ms. Pringle to host 'kitchen table' discussions to understand Canadians saving habits, challenges and successes
• Canadians from coast-to-coast can join the conversation online at www.letthesavingbegin.com/facebook

TORONTO, Aug. 12 /CNW/ - Well-known Canadian broadcaster, Valerie Pringle will kick-off a two-week, cross-Canada tour starting in Halifax on Monday, August 16 to talk to Canadians about their saving habits, challenges and successes. The tour is part of Ms. Pringle's role as the Saving Ambassador for Scotiabank's new Let the Saving Begin program, which is designed to encourage Canadians to improve their saving, investing and borrowing habits.

During the tour, Ms. Pringle will visit several other cities including Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver, with additional cities in the fall. She will speak with Canadians both on the street and in small group settings to better understand their perspectives on saving. In addition to the tour, Canadians are invited to join the conversation and share their saving stories through the Let the Saving Begin Facebook page (www.letthesavingbegin.com/facebook) where Ms. Pringle will be posting daily insights and updates from her tour, including photos and videos.

"Saving is a critical issue for Canadians and it's important that we start talking about it now to break some of the inertia surrounding it," said Valerie Pringle, Scotiabank Saving Ambassador. "Our financial health is essential to our peace of mind and I hope to gain some insight through my discussions with people across the country. Ultimately I will present my findings to Scotiabank so they can continue to develop this program."

"We recruited Valerie as our Saving Ambassador because she is a well-known, approachable and trusted voice among Canadians, who will be able to draw on her background in journalism to get Canadians talking and engaged on the issue of saving," said Chris Hodgson, Group Head Canadian Banking, Scotiabank. "Valerie's cross-country tour is an important part of sparking a movement to get Canadians saving again and we look forward to her findings."

Last month, Scotiabank launched Let the Saving Begin in Toronto where employees took to the streets and distributed more than $25,000 worth of saving "kick-starts" to thousands of Torontonians. Teams handed out gift cards towards items such as coffee, gas and groceries, and encouraged people to Let the Saving Begin with the money they would have spent on their purchases.

Let the Saving Begin is a Scotiabank program designed to inspire and empower Canadians to get on track with their saving, investing and borrowing habits, without having to make significant changes to their current behaviour.

Built on three simple principles, Let the Saving Begin encourages Canadians to:

• Save automatically, because it works;
• Invest for your future, because no one else will; and
• Borrow to get ahead, not fall behind.

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With close to 68,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve approximately 14.6 million customers in some 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a diverse range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With more than $526 billion in assets (as at April 30, 2010), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS). For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.