New Zealand Launches Collaborative Financial Literacy Effort

In a significant move to bolster financial literacy in New Zealand, a broad partnership among various interests announced the development and launch of The Exchange, an initiative created to roll out cutting-edge financial literacy programs and services.  The initiative was sparked by growing awareness in New Zealand regarding the importance of the availability of tools and resources for the nation’s citizens to enhance their financial literacy.

A broad spectrum of financial services companies supports The Exchange, and many were represented yesterday at a meeting hosted by Diane Maxwell, the Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell, and Craig Foss, the Commerce Minister, to mark the initiative’s launch.  Among the primary objectives of The Exchange are to leverage a centralized, coordinated effort among the entities involved, while enabling the national effort to scale and reach a wide range of individuals and families in an efficient, cost-effective manner.

This New Zealand effort mirrors the initiatives launched by collaboratives and partnerships in other countries during the last twelve months.  Many financial literacy observers are noting the success of such programs based in large part on the ability of the alliances to scale and focus on what works, while avoiding the elements that are less effective.  It is widely believed that this new “collaborative” model, which is based on combining the efforts of the private, public and non-profit sectors, is one that will become more prevalent as the financial literacy movement among both developed and developing nations in the months ahead.