During the global money week most financial institutions took their turn to adopt a school and to engage children in the rudiments of financial literacy.
While that is key to promoting financial inclusion it is also important to give them the opportunity to put the acquired financial knowledge into practice because going by access to financial services in Nigeria 2014 survey by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), 36.9 million adults are financially excluded, of which 37.9% are in the 18 to 25 age bracket, 57.9% are female, 39.1% have no education, and 23.8% do not get an income.
However, in addition to impacting financial independence into young people through the acquisition of the right financial knowledge, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc took a step further to design two products to financially include the young people.
The products include KidsFirst Account for 0-12 years age bracket and MeFirst Account for 13-17 Years age bracket.
KidsFirst Account is children savings account opened in the child’s name and operated by the parent/guardian with operating balance of N1,000.00. One interesting aspect of this account is that there is always gift item for the child when the account is opened with a minimum of N10,000.00.
There is room for qualification for raffle draws for customers who have maintained an average balance of N150,000.00 for 12 months to win N300,000.00. 12 winners will emerge annually, two from each of the six geo-political regions of the country.
Other features of the account include SMS messages to be sent on customers’ birthdays, automatic transition to MeFirst Account when the child attains the age of 13, cheques/dividend warrant of up to N200,000.00 can be lodged into the account, and standing order on the payment of tuition/other fees can be set up upon the request of the parent/guardian.
For MeFirst Account, which is teenagers savings account, has the same feature with KidFirst account but the distinctive ones are pre – paid cards for the child with five design options on which parents/guardians can load weekly/monthly allowances, and automatic transition to XploreFirst Account when the teenager attains the age of 18.
The MeFirst Prepaid Card is specially designed for teenagers between the ages of 13-17 years (MeFirst Account holders), to enable them develop financial responsibility and money management skills early in life, and also to help them imbibe a cashless culture in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy.
As much as N50,000 per quarter can be loaded on the card by the parent/guardian (either at once or cumulatively). Any request for a higher limit should be directed to eBusiness Services and it will be treated on case by case basis.
According to Bisi Onasanya, group managing director, FirstBank is firmly committed to the achievement of financial inclusion in Nigeria and would continue to work towards this aspiration by extending banking services to under-banked businesses, communities and individuals across the country with the bank’s extensive network of over 850 branches.
“Beyond this, we recognize that Financial Literacy is a key enabler in our quest for Financial Inclusion and that we must begin by ensuring that our children are properly empowered with a sound financial education. FirstBank would continue to assist the Nigerian child and young adult to build a prosperous future by extending financial education and services to them early in life”, he said.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
