Partnerships to reach all Filipinos
THE BSP promotes financial education because of the conviction that a financially educated citizenry, with the ability to understand, select, and use financial services that fit their needs, can better take advantage of economic opportunities.
They can gain maximum benefit from participating in the formal financial system as depositors, borrowers and investors. They can better protect themselves from fraud and harmful financial practices. They can be more effective partners of the BSP in maintaining stable prices and ensuring a stronger, safer banking and payment systems. They can more productively contribute to the Philippine economy.
Research shows that a financially educated population can create economic ripples where a person can be wiser in money management, contributing to individual and household welfare, and eventually impacting on economic growth.
The need for financial education is very much felt in the Philippines, where only 48% of adults have savings, of which 68% still save at home; only 17.9% have insurance; and only 22.5% have some form of investment.
A survey shows that Filipino adults were able to correctly answer only three out of seven financial literacy questions. Only 2% were able to correctly answer all seven questions. Only a third of the adult population can solve simple numeracy tasks required to shop around for financial services.
The survey also found that Filipinos lack specific knowledge required to make informed saving and borrowing decisions.
The need for financial education becomes more urgent as the BSP promotes digitization of the financial system, and the financial market evolves at a rapid pace, powered by technological innovation.
Financial consumers increasingly deal with sophisticated and bundled products delivered through a complex network of service providers and technologybased platforms. For Filipinos to navigate this environment, benefit from its advantages and manage the attendant risks, they need the critical skills of financial literacy and financial capability.
The BSP recognizes that financial education is a shared responsibility requiring multistakeholder collaboration and synergy. For 2018 onwards, the BSP financial education strategy focuses on partnerships with public and private stakeholders that share our vision for financial education. We hope to leverage on existing initiatives, add-value in areas where the BSP competencies are necessary, and forge new productive partnerships. Together with partners, we hope to create a multiplier effect in financial education, and elevate the financial literacy level of Filipinos.
One such partnership is with the Department of Education. With private sector support, we are co-developing financial literacy videos and teaching guides for mainstreaming in the K-12 curriculum, and used as learning tools by more than 700,000 teachers in almost 47,000 public schools around the country.