Financial literacy campaign launched
A Group of private sector institutions has launched a financial literacy campaign to educate the public, especially low income earners, on how to access financial services without stress.
‘You Deserve to Know’ is a 13-week pilot radio campaign programme to engage clients of financial institutions on what to look out for when accessing credit.
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Smart Campaign, a global initiative that promote strong financial consumer protection for low income clients, is working through Accion International, Ghana, a financial advisory and investment company, and Financial Inclusion Forum Africa to implement the campaign.
The latter works with financial institutions, especially microfinance and savings and loans companies, to push the incorporation of Smart Campaign principles, such as client protection, into product design and service delivery.
The programme will help the public, including customers of financial institutions, to understand their rights and responsibilities better when accessing financial services.
Launch
The manager of Global Advisory Solutions, Africa, and a member of the Smart Campaign, Mr Kwashie Agbitor, who was speaking at the launch in Accra last Thursday, further explained that the campaign would provide information to the public on their rights and responsibilities regarding access to credit.
You Deserve to Know campaign also involves a drama segment after which financial experts will explain and discuss issues articulated in the drama.
According to Mr Agbitor, the campaign would also cover mobile money use, where a lot of scams had been happening in recent times.
Research conducted for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) last year revealed that 56 per cent of mobile money users in the country had received fraudulent or scam SMS, while 12 per cent of users had lost money to such scams.
Client protection
A Senior Director at Smart Campaign, Ms Alexandra Rizzi, said building a robust client protection environment required strong industry standards, an engaged regulator and clients who understand their rights and responsibilities.
“This series aims to equip clients with the knowledge they deserve to know to make the best financial decisions for themselves,” she stated.
A co-founder and chairman of Financial Inclusion Forum Africa, Dr William Derban, said, “the Smart Campaign’s global expertise has helped to identify and prioritise financial consumer protection issues for Ghanaian consumers.”
You Deserve to Know will air on Adom FM from Thursday and on Citi FM from April this year.
