Australia’s ANZ Takes Financial Literacy to New Heights

ANZ, a 175-year-old bank operating in more than 30 countries in Australia, New Zealand, throughout Asia and the Pacific, and in the Middle East, Europe and America, announced the roll out of its flagship financial education initiative, MoneyMinded Pacific, to many individuals at this year’s Hibiscus Festival.  The program was one of the offerings at the Fiji Hibiscus Financial Inclusion Village, where members of the National Financial Inclusion Task Force, including the Reserve Bank of Fiji, led financial literacy programs for participants.

ANZ’s MoneyMinded financial education program is 10 years old and has been successful in teaching individuals how to strengthen their financial capabilities. To date, MoneyMinded has helped more than 200,000 individuals and is widely recognized in Australia as the most widely accessed financial education program.

In addition to MoneyMinded, ANZ also offers the Saver Plus program, which is a financial education and matched savings program that assists individuals in developing longer range savings plans.  Saver Plus is offered in partnership with several organizations, including Berry Street, The Benevolent Society, The Smith Family and other community agencies.

MoneyBusiness, also offered by ANZ, is an initiative designed to teach money management skills to Australians.  Together with MoneyMinded and Saver Plus, this program comprises a growing suite of financial literacy solutions that ANZ is confident will continue to build important financial skills to individuals in Australia, New Zealand and beyond.  Moreover, the ANZ approach in partnering with government and community-based organizations is a model widely employed in the financial literacy community to ensure successful, long-term gains in financial literacy success.  We can expect to see more bank-developed programs like those of ANZ in communities throughout the world as the financial literacy movement continues blossom.