SACRAMENTO, Calif. — To help connect lower-income, unbanked Californians to mainstream financial products and services, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today his office has launched the Bank on California initiative.

The program builds on Bank on San Francisco, a citywide effort to bring 10,000 of the city's estimated 50,000 unbanked residents into the financial mainstream through participating credit unions and banks' offerings and marketing of reasonably-priced products and services.

Through partnerships with financial institutions, the Bank on California program will offer money management skills and form coalitions in key markets in California to market accounts to the unbanked. Over the next few months, banks and credit unions will work with community groups and city mayors to develop and market starter accounts.