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CROSS REGIONALCONFERENCE AND GRULAC
This year the WSBI cross regional conference will take place in Lima, Peru and will be held just after the annual regional group meeting for the Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC) member banks of the WSBI.
Introduction
Financial literacy is intended to empower individuals to handle financial resources effectively, with a view to sustainably improving their individual living conditions and those of their families. Many stakeholders believe that financial literacy should start as early as possible and that young people should consciously practice handling their financial resources.
In parallel, there is growing awareness that to achieve true financial capability, people in general and particularly young people, need not only the ability to act (knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation), but also the opportunity to act through access to adequate banking services and institutions. Without access to these banking products, they will not build the skills necessary to learn how to use financial services in a productive and responsible manner.
Accordingly, there is therefore a growing need and interest among many financial service providers in assessing the business case for (or against) entering into, or expanding their existing services within, youth markets.
Within the WSBI, many savings and retail banks have developed programmes of financial literacy for children and young people, which include financial products in order to familiarize their young clients with the management of money and to inculcate them a culture of saving. Some of these programmes already exist for some years and the challenge is to make them profitable too; demonstrating that financial inclusion and sustainability can successfully coexist.