Recent figures from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade suggest up to 80 per cent of Pacific Islanders do not have access to basic financial services - including bank accounts and regular financial advice - especially in rural provinces, where easy access to branches is limited.
To address this imbalance and to reduce the economic and social divide between urban and rural communities both ANZ staff and members of the Pacific community have been taking part in MoneyMinded - ANZ’s flagship adult financial literacy program. The program aims to develop participants’ financial skills, knowledge and confidence.
Over the past three years 3,433 individuals from a variety of public, private and non-government sector organisations, as well as ANZ employees participated in the MoneyMinded program.
MoneyMinded was first introduced as a pilot project in Fiji in 2010 in collaboration with public, private and non-government sector organisations.
In a recent report - Fiji MoneyMinded Impact report - the University of the South Pacific investigates the impact of the program on the participants and the wider community.
The views and opinions expressed in this communication are those of the author and may not necessarily state or reflect those of ANZ.
18 Nov 2014
20 Aug 2014