A long-term program aimed at educating consumers will, along with effective regulation and supervision, further enhance consumer protection and promote greater stability in the financial system.

Towards this end, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) launched a nationwide campaign to advocate financial literacy and savings awareness among the youth. PDIC Officer-in-Charge and Executive Vice President Imelda S. Singzon made these remarks in her presentation of PDIC's Financial Literacy Project (FLP) during the 6th International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Annual General Meeting and Conference held recently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. IADI is a non-profit organization of deposit insurance agencies established in May 2002 in Basel, Switzerland which aims to share deposit insurance expertise with the world to contribute to the stability of financial systems.

PDIC's FLP is the first school curriculum-based financial literacy project in the Philippines. It is aimed at sowing the seeds of financial knowledge to empower the youth to make good financial decisions in the future, to educate them on their basic rights and responsibilities as depositors and to raise their awareness of PDIC's role in the banking system.

The project is a cost-effective way of reaching a big number of students on a continuous basis. PDIC linked up with the Department of Education (DepED) to integrate into the high school curriculum concepts on savings consciousness, responsible banking and the importance of deposit insurance in protecting depositors and in helping maintain stability in the financial system. The project has since been expanded to include students in the private high schools as well as college students enrolled in the business administration program by way of collaboration with the Coordinating Council of Private Education Administration (Cocopea) for the private high schools and with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Philippine Council of Deans and Educators in Business (PCDEB) for the college level.

Started in 2005, the project involved the development, production and distribution of Teacher's Guides (TGs) in four subject areas in the high school level namely values education 2, 3 and 4, and economics 4. The TGs are virtual lesson plans consisting of suggested classroom and learning strategies, content and evaluation methodologies, for use as supplemental instructional materials for teachers. In January 2007, the TGs were distributed nationwide to about 5,500 public high schools to benefit some 5 million public high school students. Because the information will be taught to students year after year, the project will be self-sustaining over time. There will be a continuous addition in the number of students reached each year, as well as transfer of learning to their peers.

The project was subsequently broadened to include private high school students. This translated to an additional 1.3 million students in more than 3,000 private high schools nationwide. At the high school level, this meant reaching an estimated total of 6.3 million high school students in more than 8,000 public and private high schools nationwide.

To reinforce PDIC's advocacy for enhanced financial literacy among the youth, the FLP was further expanded this year to include students enrolled in business administration courses in the tertiary level. The revised curriculum in business courses allowed PDIC to integrate the concepts of financial literacy and responsible banking, and updated information on the financial sector in the college curriculum. With business-related courses still the top course choice of college students in the country, this undertaking will cover about half a million college students nationwide annually.

Overall, PDIC's FLP is projected to reach about 7 million college and high school students nationwide yearly.

Singzon said that the youth are regarded to shape the country's financial landscape in the future. Hence, it is but logical to provide them with sufficient and accurate information to enable them to make informed financial choices in the future.

She reiterated PDIC's belief that accurate information provides a first line of defense for consumers. "An individual's financial knowledge influences his choices of banks and bank products. Consumers who are most vulnerable to financial crimes are those who lack basic financial knowledge," she added.

Singzon expressed hope that the PDIC FLP will not end at just educating the youth but will extend to other segments of the society particularly those who have the resources to make financial investments as they are the ones who need financial knowledge to guide them in their choices and investment decisions.

The invitation for the Philippines to present its financial literacy advocacy is part of IADI's objective of promoting international cooperation through the sharing and exchange of expertise and information to enhance the effectiveness of deposit insurance systems all over the world. Being able to share PDIC's ongoing initiatives to promote financial literacy with international counterparts is an initial step undertaken towards fulfilling the corporate vision of being among the global leaders in depositor protection.