Visa and AKPK Launch New Financial Literacy Programme in Malaysia

09/22/2015

Visa’s latest financial literacy programme is targeted at young Malaysians to educate them about responsible financial management through an online game

Visa and Malaysia’s Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) have entered their third year of collaboration to promote financial education in Malaysia. This year, they created an online game where young Malaysians can learn how to manage their finances smartly in a fun and interesting way. 

Cent-sible Choice is an online game designed to help students and fresh graduates learn about spending, investing and budgeting in a responsible manner. The game presents everyday scenarios relevant and unique to young Malaysians, encouraging them to make small but impactful changes to the way they spend. It also provides them with financial tips for each decision that they make in the game.

Student players will be given a fictional budget of RM 1,000 and will encounter a number of scenarios such as deciding on what they will spend at a mamak store and making choices whether to save all their money or spend it on a holiday from their part time jobs.

Fresh graduates on the other hand will be given a budget of RM 3,200 and will be presented with different scenarios such as choosing between getting a debit card instead of a credit card, deciding on low risk, low return versus high risk, high return investments and picking between purchasing a new or a second hand car.

“Visa is pleased to continue its partnership with AKPK to promote financial education in the country and this is aligned with the nation’s effort. We want to equip young Malaysians with practical financial knowledge that can be applied in their daily lives,” said Ng Kong Boon, Visa Country Manager for Malaysia. “We believe that financial literacy should be taught from a young age, especially before Malaysians enter the work force.  Hence, we created an online game, Cent-sible Choice, targeted at both students and fresh graduates to provide them with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to make sound financial choices.”

Azaddin Ngah Tasir, CEO of AKPK, said, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Visa to promote financial literacy to Malaysians and this year, we decided to target specifically the youth. It is important that we help the youth build a solid foundation and educate them on the concepts of financial management. We want them to be able to go out to the work force with the confidence of handling finances on their own and achieve financial independence. We believe that with the right knowledge and skills, we will be able to cultivate a young generation who practices prudent financial management as a way of life.”

All participants of the online game will be included in a weekly draw and win exciting prizes over a two-month period. To play the game, visit www.centsiblechoice.com.my. For more information about Visa’s financial literacy initiatives in Asia and around the world, please visit www.visa.com.

 

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 56,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com.