Bangladesh Bank issues financial literacy guidelines

Bangladesh Bank on Sunday issued a directive on financial literacy guidelines for banks and financial institutions (FIs) in order to build a financially literate society as part of sustainable development goals (SDGs), reports UNB.

As a priority focus, BB has identified 'Strengthen financial literacy & financial education initiatives' as an important core objective in its’ Strategic Plan for 2020-2024. The fourth goal of SDG requires ensuring financial literacy for all, the BB directive stated.

“Financial literacy is essential in supporting financial inclusion, especially in the context of the advancement of Digital Financial Services (DFS). Leveraging on the phenomenon that financial literacy is a prerequisite for sustainable financial inclusion, BB has implemented a number of initiatives so far,” said in the directives.

To create an empowered nation with the right knowledge and skills for making responsible financial decisions, these guidelines recognise the following set of objectives.

The objectives are - strengthen financial knowledge base so as to promote responsible financial behaviour of the individual, capacitate people towards DFS and raise awareness against financial fraud, reduce associated risk and enhance consumer protection, reduce gender gap in financial services, ensure delivery of synchronised financial literacy based on the needs of different target groups through effective tools and monitoring mechanism, establish sustainable financial literacy infrastructure at the community as well as national level through creating enabling environment for the FLPs.

The BB directives focused that all people must have proper knowledge on financial management to make rational financial planning for future or unexpected happenings.

“This behavioural change can be influenced through general literacy on key financial issues. This strategic focus thus adequately addresses the deliberation of conceptual leanings on some financial issues such as: savings, borrowing or payments that can help the impactful financial decision of the individual and reinforce the financial ecosystem,” the BB directive said.

The central bank emphasized on achieving financial literacy skills so people achieve adaptation to face challenges of SDG by 2030.