Advancing Financial Capability in Rapidly Changing Urban Environments

 

Accompanying this rapid urbanization is the growth of mega-cities with populations exceeding 10 million. More than half of the world's mega-cities (13 out of 22) are now found in Asia Pacific, including Tokyo, New Delhi, Mumbai and Shanghai to name a few.

 

With this rapid pace of urbanization in many Asia Pacific cities, it was fitting that this year's Citi-FT Financial Education Summit focused on the challenges and opportunities of helping the increasing population of low-income workers, youths and older people settling in urban areas gain greater financial access and inclusion in the formal economy.

 

The annual Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia earlier this month, with over 250 delegates from non-profit organizations, government agencies, regulators, financial institutes and advocacy groups in attendance.

 

The two-day global forum featured keynotes, panel discussions and technical workshops - a first for the Citi-FT Financial Education Summit. Designed to encourage learning amongst practitioners from some of the most innovative urban programs and effective delivery approaches, the workshops drew extremely positive results.

 

Citi's Asia Pacific Chairman Shengman Zhang addressed the delegates at the conference, and spoke to the growing role of Malaysia as a center of financial inclusion. Shengman also spoke of Citi's commitment to financial education and the contributions that a decade of Citi-FT Financial Education Summits have made to the financial education ecosystem in Asia Pacific.

 

The Citi-FT Financial Education Summit not only provides the opportunity for networking and financial education knowledge building, it also motivates financial education practitioners and organizations to innovate, enhance and develop new programs to meet changing needs of the target communities they serve.

 

The Citi-FT Financial Education Summit, supported by the Citi Foundation and organized in partnership with the Pearson Foundation and the Financial Times, has been for more than a decade the leading, annual global forum on innovations and best practices in financial capability.