Treasury Department’s Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund to Spark New Financial Literacy Ideas and Solutions

The United States Treasury Department’s Office of Consumer Policy has announced the creation of the Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund to support new programs, strategies and initiatives focused on increasing financial capability and providing greater access to financial products and solutions. Approximately $6 million will be awarded by the Fund this year.

The Fund will seek projects and programs primarily in these three key areas:

• Payments: Funding for payments-related innovations will be allocated to those projects that use payments as a vehicle to bolster access to traditional banking and financial services, while enhancing personal financial decision-making skills of the recipients of payments.

• Higher Education Decision-Making: To address the significant issues surrounding student debt, financial aid and other post-secondary education financial matters, the Fund will support the creation and testing of new ideas and solutions designed to assist individuals and families with higher education decision-making with respect to financial affairs.

• Financial Capability: Recognizing the tremendous importance of financial capability and greater access to financial services, the Fund will allocate dollars to innovations relating to impactful financial education and products that assist individuals with budgeting, saving and keeping track of their personal financial matters. A particular emphasis will be placed on mobile and digital technologies.

The Fund represents one of the latest moves by the Obama Administration to support heightened access for all Americans to financial services, tools and education that assist individuals and families in making more informed financial decisions. The Office of Consumer Policy is well suited to administer the Fund, as the Treasury Department also disburses other government payments, such as Social Security and tax refunds, while the Department also serves as chair of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission and as the agency that coordinates the activities of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.

The Fund also is representative of federal efforts taking place in many developed and developing countries to spark greater innovation of programs and solutions that increase the financial literacy and financial capability of their citizens. Financial literacy proponents remain very bullish about the positive impact that these new innovations will have on the continued growth and success of the financial literacy movement in the months and years ahead.