ANZ today launched its first MoneyMinded Impact Report in the Solomon Islands, following on from the financial literacy program’s launch in 2011.
The impact report measures the benefits MoneyMinded has on participants, the majority of whom were women from Rokotanikeni and the Solomon Islands Women in Business Association (SIWIBA).
Prepared in collaboration with USP, the report demonstrated that 97 per cent of participants felt more satisfied with life, less stressed about their future, better able to provide for their families and more confident in other aspects of their lives after completing the training.
Launching the report, ANZ Solomon Islands CEO, Geoffrey Buchanan said: “ANZ Solomon Islands is the second country in the Pacific, after Fiji, to have produced a report measuring the impact MoneyMinded has had on the lives of Solomon Islanders. I’m very proud to see what this program has achieved in this community.”
Respondents said that they are less vulnerable to financial shocks because 97 per cent have money to cover a sudden loss of income, compared with only 30 per cent before undertaking the program. Respondents also said they were left with a much greater capacity to make money last, with 83 per cent no longer frequently running short of money before their next pay day and 77 per cent of respondents left more likely to have money left over.
Governor of the Central Bank Solomon Islands (CBSI) Denton Rarawa and Australia’s High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands Andrew Byrne, as well as key stakeholders from the community and SIWIBA attended the launch in Honiara today.
MoneyMinded is ANZ’s flagship financial literacy course, designed to boost financial inclusion in communities where ANZ operates. It has been successfully delivered to some 6000 people across the Pacific since it was introduced in 2010.