KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia won four awards at the Maybank Regional Financial Education Excellence Awards 2023, held recently in Phnom Penh and participated by Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Maybank Group and Maybank Foundation Chairman Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said Maybank is expanding into new regions and reaching out to more people in the region by focusing on long-term impact and sustainable programmes in the areas of community empowerment, education and environmental diversity.
“Cashville Kidz was developed in partnership with MoneyTree Asia Pacific (the leading financial education organisation in the region) and aims to address the need for financial education in schools across the Asean region by educating school children aged 9 to 12 through this cartoon series,” he said in his opening remarks at the awards ceremony.
Among the winners from Malaysia were Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Lavender Heights in Negeri Sembilan, which won the Best School award, while Nurul Asyiqin Md Isa from the same school won the Best Educator award. Nur Hana Zahra Mohd Norazmi from SK Puncak Alam 2, Selangor won the Best Student Award while the Best Family Award went to the family of Sarah Bakhtiar from Negeri Sembilan.
The Maybank Financial Education Excellence Awards is the first award ceremony of its kind to recognise educators and students who have shown dedication and exceptional efforts in promoting financial education in the Asean region.
Finance for kids
Maybank Cambodia chief executive officer Rath Sophoan said the programme combines the elements of fun and learning, making it even more exciting and easier for children to learn about finance.
“By partnering with MoneyTree Asia Pacific, the implementation of this initiative has been even smoother as the content is tailored to the country’s language and culture and keeps up with the latest digital trends,” he said.
To date, the Cashville Kidz programme has reached and positively impacted more than 330,000 school children and trained 5,270 teachers in over 1,270 schools in seven countries in this region – Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam, according to MoneyTree Asia Pacific CEO, Michael Reyes said.
The project has co-curricular status with the Malaysian Ministry of Education and is supported by the strategic partnership and collaboration with the National Bank of Cambodia, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in Cambodia, the Philippine Central Bank, the Philippine Department of Education and the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.
Over the past decade, Maybank Foundation has established itself as a regional social impact organisation and actively supports Maybank’s mission to humanise financial services.
Maybank Foundation has touched more than 460,000 lives since 2013 by ensuring that Maybank Foundation is a force for good and positively impacts the communities it serves.
This has led to it receiving Asean accreditation status, which emphasises Maybank’s commitment to creating meaningful, measurable and long-term sustainable impact in the region. – BERNAMA / pic TMR FILE