Students to get advice on managing money

A financial literacy programme for young adults has been launched in Singapore.

Called MoneyMinded, the programme was developed by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and delivered in partnership with Singapore's Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

In the next two months, up to 300 ITE students will learn how to manage their money and make financial plans in line with their life goals. Trained ANZ bankers will deliver the course.

Another 600 students are expected to join by the end of next year.

In a statement, Mr Vishnu Shahaney, chief executive of ANZ Asia and Singapore, said that MoneyMinded has benefited communities across the Asia-Pacific.

"With ANZ's growing presence in Singapore, we want to expand our best programmes to benefit young adults here," he added.

While new here, MoneyMinded has already been established in countries such as New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The initiative's launch here comes after a pilot test with 165 ITE College West students last year, after which an impact study was done independently by Professor Albert Teo from the National University of Singapore's Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Programme.

The study found that students were more confident about money after going through the programme. Nearly three-quarters (73.8 per cent) of those surveyed said they were confident about making financial decisions after the programme, up from 32.7 per cent before.

Plans are under way to take the programme to young adults beyond the institute, with a second pilot partnering the Bishan North Citizens Consultative Committee to be held next month.

Mrs Josephine Teo, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, said the launch of MoneyMinded "was a very welcome development".

"It is a way to help more Singaporeans gain the necessary skills and cultivate money management habits from a young age," she added.

She was speaking at the programme's launch last Friday at ANZ Singapore's offices in Collyer Quay, where she witnessed the signing of a letter of collaboration between ITE and ANZ Singapore.

Originally launched in Australia in 2003, MoneyMinded was designed to promote financial literacy in marginalised communities. It has since reached over 240,000 people in 17 countries with nearly 6,000 trained facilitators.

teezhuo@sph.com.sg

This article was published on May 12 in The Straits Times.

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