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Heritage Bank catches them young, trains children in financial literacy
Heritage Bank Plc has continued its tradition of inculcating financial literacy in children by exposing children of between five and seven years to banking services as part of activities to mark the bank’s Children Banking Month, tagged: My Day as a Banker.
The Day, which was marked at the corporate headquarters of the bank in Lagos, recently, saw pupils from Hilltop Grade International School, Lekki, Lagos take up banking duties from the Reception to the Customer Service, Foreign Exchange, Corporate Banking and Human Resources, attending to customers who were amazed at the skills the kids exhibited in addressing their banking needs after a short induction given to them.
Group Head, Retail Banking and SME, Heritage Bank, Lagos Island, Tomi Oyesola, said the training programme was part of the financial literacy programmes of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s cashless policy aimed at equipping children with basic tools in order to enhance their financial freedom. It is also part of activities marking the Children’s Day on May 27 and Children Banking Month, with the theme, “Early Positioning for Global Relevance.”
She stressed that it was very important for children to know what financial literacy was and what banking was all about at a very early age of their lives, adding that the children will be exposed to how prepaid card transactions work and how to use ATM cards to deposit and withdraw money, among others.
She said the programme had been on since the inception of the bank, adding that the bank usually trains children in primary and secondary schools in financial literacy every year.
Oyesola said for children in secondary school, the bank exposed them to treasury operations, financial control, sales and credit control among others, adding that about 90 percent of the children that had been exposed to the programme had opened accounts with the bank.
She said for children in primary schools, the bank accommodates between eight to 10 children from different schools at different times to expose them to financial literacy for about an hour.
The Heritage Children Banking Month directly impacts about 350 primary and secondary schools across the country in recognition of the pivotal role children play as the leaders of tomorrow.
At the end of this year’s programme, Heritage Bank would have imparted financial education in over 1,000 schools across the country since the programme started two years ago, as part of its social corporate responsibility.
Speaking on the importance of the celebration, the Managing Director of the bank, Ifie Sekibo, stressed that it was important to teach children wealth creation early in life to position them for global and local relevance. He further stressed that there was a need for parents to teach them on how to prioritise savings over spending, which is a valuable life lesson and one that takes a time to learn.
According to him, opening a savings account for a child is one of the best ways to introduce them to that concept at an early age.
