Experts call for raising financial literacy among youth

KIGALI, Rwanda

Financial institutions can leverage new digital channels to increase financial literacy among youth and women, experts said on Monday.

The Alliance for Financial Global Policy forum, which runs from Sep.9-13, drew financial experts from across the world to the Rwandan capital Kigali.

The five-day conference, co-hosted by the National Bank of Rwanda and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), was organized under the theme “Using technology for the inclusion of women and youth.”

The participants include around 800 delegates from more than 90 countries, including central bank officials, regulators, policy makers, and financial inclusion experts.

“There is a need for more investment and innovative ways to drive financial literacy which hold back young people and women from being part of formal financial services. Innovation can also ease ways to deliver financial education to the youth through new digital channels,” Chris Ngoga, a financial expert, told Anadolu Agency.

About 47% of young adults aged 15-24 in developing countries are excluded from formal financial services, compared to 18% of young adults in high-income countries, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex data for 2017.

With more knowledge about financial inclusion, it would promote sustainable growth and poverty reduction among youth and women, Ngoga added.

According to Alfred Hannig -- the executive director of AFI, a global network of policymaking and regulatory institutions -- financial inclusion can make a critical contribution to achieve broader global aspirations, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Hannig argues that the objective of financial inclusion is not only to bring the unbanked into the financial system but also to avoid already banked populations falling out of the system over time.

There are more young adults than ever before globally. There are 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 and approximately 90% of them live in developing countries, according to the UN.

With more than 100 institutions, representing 90 countries, the Global Policy Forum is arguably the most comprehensive forum for regulatory institutions to share experiences, knowledge and initiatives making impact in bringing financial services to about world’s 1.7 billion unbanked people.