The ABA Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping bankers provide financial education, recently sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury regarding updating the U.S. National Strategy for Financial Literacy.
“We appreciate Secretary (Scott) Bessent and the Treasury Department’s focus on this critical challenge and the opportunity to share our perspective on national strategies for financial literacy,” Lindsay Torrico, ABA Foundation executive director, said. “As Financial Literacy Month reminds us, helping people build financial skills, resilience and confidence is important to the economy. Banks are deeply embedded in their communities and are uniquely positioned to support a modern, coordinated national strategy that meets people where they are.”
The foundation recommendations the Treasury and Financial Literacy and Education Commission emphasize the need to modernize financial literacy; elevate scam and fraud prevention; promote youth investment accounts and early wealth building tools; support financial counseling; educate consumers on emerging financial products, services and technologies; and
strengthen public private partnerships to deliver consistent, high quality financial education at scale.
The foundation emphasized that banks play a critical role in advancing financial capability nationwide and highlighted banks’ unique position as trusted, community based partners that deliver financial education through schools, workplaces, community organizations and digital platforms.