In its continuous bid to expose the citizenry to financial
literacy at very early age in life, Heritage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s Most
Innovative Banking Services Provider, joined the world in celebrating the World
Savings’ Day with the theme: Our Future Starts with Savings.
The World Savings Day, stresses the ingenuity of savings to
economic development, which is in line with the bank’s financial literacy
programme aimed at introducing its financial literacy edutainment resources to
children and young persons under its BUD proposition, was held at the Nigerian
Navy Secondary School, Ojo in Lagos.
The MD/CEO of the Bank, Ifie Sekibo, emphasized the
importance of savings both modern economies and for individuals- young and old
alike to attain a higher standard of life and secure the economy.
He stated that Heritage Bank’s involvement in the World
Savings celebration was a demonstration of the bank’s commitment to innovation.
According to him, children are very special to us at
Heritage Bank, hence we decided to celebrate today with them in a unique way
that offers the opportunity to have fun and learn about bank savings.
Sekibo noted that for early positioning of children for
global and local relevance, there was need to teach them on how to prioritize
savings over spending, which is a valuable life lesson and one that takes time
to learn.
According to him, opening a savings account for a child is
one of the best ways to introduce him/her to that concept of saving at an early
age.
He explained that one of the ways the bank has continued to
promote savings amongst children is the introduction of “My day as a banker”
which is also the Heritage Bank’s unique way of promoting financial literacy
among children, which is the core of the HB Bud Savings Account, specially
designed to promote savings habit among children and youths.
In line with its mission to create, preserve and transfer
wealth across generations, he said Heritage Bank developed the HB Bud Savings
Account to help its customers to create wealth for the children and provide
them a future of financial independence.
Team Lead, Financial Literacy, Customer Experience &
Analytics, Heritage Bank, Ajiri Efeturi led the 174 secondary school students
in attendance on how to save effectively and how to cultivate good saving
habits talked on the need to be financially literate in a bid to ensure that
one could manage his money effectively as well as make one more responsible and
being able to plan for a secured future.
She differentiated between needs and wants, remarking that
needs are what one needs to survive while wants are those things which one
would like to have but could really do without.
She also gave some tips on smart spending: make a list of
everything you want but always be smart about how one spends his money and the
need to be a price detective by comparing prices from different stores.
Efeturi who enjoined not to give more than they had, but
keep some money as savings for the future, also introduced them to the Heritage
BUD account for children
According to her, some of the good habits of the account are
the need to cultivate the habit of saving, having a financial plan and budget
and the need to set aside about 10 percent of their pocket money or cash gifts
as savings as well as avoidance of impulsive spending.
On the bad habits of money, Team member, Financial Literacy,
Customer Experience & Analytics, Heritage Bank, Chinenyenwa Ozoemena,
advised the children to avoid borrowing money, buying stuffs on credit, taking money
that is not your own and spending money at once disposal without saving.
Every year, Heritage Bank directly impacts about 350 primary
and secondary schools across the country in recognition of the pivotal role
children play as the leaders of tomorrow.
Heritage Bank has imparted financial education on more than
over 1,500 schools across the country since commencing its financial literacy
programme two years ago, as part of its social corporate responsibility.
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