MANILA, Philippines - US financed giant Citi kicked yesterday off its annual international forum aimed at promoting financial education and inclusion in the Philippines.
“Through our support for the Citi-FT Financial Education Summit, Citi once again underscores its role as a financial capability thought-leader, not only in the Asia Pacific, but also globally,” said Citi head of ASEAN Michael Zink.
“As we celebrate 200 years, we cannot overemphasize the importance that financial education plays in promoting responsible finance across all our stakeholders-from our employees to our clients to our local communities.”
The event will gather about 300 representatives from non-profit organizations, financial institutions and government agencies/regulators, multilateral institutions, microfinance institutions, educational organization and private business from 30 countries.
This year’s forum, the ninth so far, is jointly organized by Citi Foundation, Pearson Foundation and Financial Times, and co-sponsored by International Finance Corp. (IFC), Prudential and Visa.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has also agreed to be this year’s host partner.
The two-day event, with the theme “Financial Capability as a 21st Century Life Skill” aims to establish the case for financial capability as a critical competency for modern society, in both developing and developed economies.
The summit will showcase leading financial education programs that support key segments, such as in-school and out-of-school youth, entrepreneurs, migrant workers, farmers and at-risk women.
In addition, the conference will address the fundamental challenges around impact assessment, sustainable delivery models, program standards and multi-sector partnerships.
“Providing people access to opportunities – such as trainings in enterprise development and microfinance – is a key advocacy of our citizenship activities here in the Philippines. But we also recognize that these initiatives must be coupled with equally effective financial education programs.
This is what the Citi-FT Financial Education Summit promotes every year, and I am pleased that the Philippines, which has one of the most vibrant non-profit and microfinance sectors in the world, will be hosting an event that will encourage further development and discussion in this field,” Citi country officer Sanjiv Vohra said.
“Sharing perspectives and learning first-hand the best practices of organizations driving financial inclusion across the Asia Pacific region is a key component of the Citi-FT Financial Education Summit,” said Mark Nieker, Pearson Foundation president and CEO.
“We also plan to share the summit proceedings on the Internet so that financial education leaders everywhere can have access to best practice,” he added.
Citi has been a pioneer in financial education in the Philippines with signature programs for the disadvantaged, youth and the general public.