Back to basics

westpac/chairman/chief-executive/

6 July 2006
| By Sara Rich |

While launching the Australian Bankers’ Association’s (ABA) new online financial literacy program, chairman David Morgan said increasing the financial understanding of those who were the most illiterate would increase their personal income by $3,000 a year.

He said this was a sustainability priority that banks could most affect, and over a decade would inject an additional $6 billion a year into gross domestic product.

“The lowest levels of financial literacy were associated with those having lower education, those not working, those with lower incomes, those with lower saving levels, single people and people at both extremes of the age profile,” Morgan said.

“Broadening financial literacy is part of the wider sustainability agenda — an agenda that is determined not just by banks … but by all of us working together in partnership.”

Also the chief executive of Westpac Banking, Morgan said the bank employed the philosophy that a prosperous business went hand in hand with a prosperous society.

For this reason, Westpac introduced a Financial First Steps workshop three years ago to teach its young employees the basics in money management.

Today, school students, apprentices and indigenous communities also use the program.

The ABA’s new Financial Literacy Info Centre provides access to other workshops of this type from Australia’s banking sector.

“The new section of the ABA website complements the ASIC consumer protection FIDO website and the Financial Literacy Foundation’s pending web portal, as well as our member banks’ financial literacy resources,” Morgan said.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months 3 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months 4 weeks ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

5 months ago

ASIC has suspended the Australian Financial Services Licence of a Melbourne-based financial advice firm....

2 weeks 1 day ago

The corporate regulator has issued infringement notices to three AFSLs whose financial advisers provided personal advice to a retail client while unregistered....

2 weeks 6 days ago

ASIC has released the results of its first adviser exam to be held in 2025, with 241 candidates attempting the test....

3 weeks 4 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND