We have great news in our international CODE project, which works to make the financial sector and banking accessible!

We have completed a comprehensive training material consisting of five modules that cover everything related to financial services and banking. We worked with numerous experts and sought the opinions of those directly affected—people with disabilities—so we believe we have developed truly valuable educational material. We considered it very important to make this course accessible in every way, so we translated it into the languages of all partner countries and made it available in a variety of formats, from Word documents to PDFs and videos, with visual elements and audio descriptions to help with reading and comprehension.

Now comes the pilot phase, where we will test the curriculum with groups of people with disabilities and finalize the training based on their valuable feedback.

Another big news is that on June 28, 2025, an EU regulation of fundamental importance to our project came into force! The European Accessibility Directive, officially known as Directive (EU) 2019/882, more commonly referred to as the European Accessibility Act (EAA), aims to ensure that uniform rules apply to the accessibility of digital products and services, including online banking services and ATMs, in the EU market.

From the end of June, all banks must adapt their ATMs to the new EU accessibility directive. The aim is to remove the barriers that currently make it difficult for people with disabilities to use ATMs.
The legislation requires developers to design and construct ATMs that are accessible to people with visual, hearing, intellectual, or other disabilities. The most important changes to ATMs include larger font sizes and better contrast on the display, voice instructions through headphones, clearer, more intuitive menus, tactile surfaces, and embossed buttons.
Like all accessibility initiatives, these changes will not only make it easier for people with disabilities to carry out administrative tasks. All users will benefit from clearer displays, easier-to-understand menus, and more precise instructions.
Banks must inform their customers about the changes.
This directive was adopted by the EU in 2019, but member states are only required to apply it from June 28, 2025.

Please read our latest information in the current newsletter of our CODE project. Share it with others, people with disabilities, interested parties, training centers, and the banking sector!
Follow us on the People First Facebook page or the CODE project  Facebook page for updates on the project’s progress.
The July 2025 newsletter of the CODE project is available in PDF format by clicking here: EN_CODE_Newsletter4_July 2025 (1)