Maybank Foundation and MoneyTree Expand Cashville Kidz Program in Cambodia

    PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, August 02, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Maybank Foundation today announced the successful completion of its pilot phase of the Maybank Cashville Kidz Financial Literacy Program in Cambodia, with a commitment to expand the programme under Phase 2 to national schools in the country.

The award winning Cashville Kidz program which was created and produced by MoneyTree Asia Pacific Pte Ltd , is endorsed by the National Bank of Cambodia and aims to address the need for Financial Education in schools and is in line with the Foundation's objective to champion financial literacy across ASEAN by educating school students via an animated series.

The announcement of the second phase of this programme in Cambodia comes following the success of the pilot programme which was introduced in February 2017 and targeted at eight schools in Phnom Penh. It has now been accepted and approved by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to be expanded throughout national schools in Cambodia - making it the first program of its nature to receive such recognition. Some 3,000 students are expected to benefit under this new phase.

The Grand Finale and Cashville Kidz Challenge which saw representatives from the 8 participating schools battle their way through a vigorous quiz challenge, was graced by the Secretary of State, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in Cambodia, H.E Dr Im Koch; Director General, Central Banking, National Bank of Cambodia, H.E. Chea Serey and Director General, Banking Supervision, National Bank of Cambodia, Mr Rath Sovannorak. Also present at the event were Group President & CEO of Maybank, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias, CEO of Maybank Foundation, Shahril Azuar Jimin together with Maybank Cambodia Chairman, Dato' Johan Ariffin, CEO of MoneyTree Asia Pacific Michael Reyes and members from the Board of Directors of Maybank Cambodia.

CashVille Kidz is an exciting animated cartoon series designed to teach school students the importance of money, in order to prepare them to meet future financial challenges they may face. The animated series focuses on specific financial lessons that range from the importance of saving money to developing positive spending habits and making smart investments.

The cartoon series features four main characters named Penny Wise, Barry Maverick, Sens Andola, and Suzy Spendamore. The series focuses on how each of the characters confronts individual challenges and in the process, develop their personalities and experiences. Targeted at children aged 9 - 12 years, CashVille Kidz aims to make the learning process a fun and educational one at the same time.

Speaking at the event, Datuk Farid said "We aim to prepare the young generations and one of our goals is to help develop their mindset and habits that would help them face financial challenges in the near future."

The CashVille Kidz program was initially launched in Malaysia in collaboration with MoneyTree and first aired in February 2013. It was recognised by the Malaysian Ministry of Education and accepted as an extra co-curricular activity that awards participating students with the compulsory co-curricular points every student requires. Over the course of the last three years, the program has reached more than 150,000 students from 700 schools across Malaysia.

CashVille Kidz is a flagship initiative of Maybank Foundation aimed at boosting financial literacy amongst school children, and can be easily replicated and upscaled in other countries where Maybank has a presence.

"Given the overwhelming response that we have received from students in the pilot programme, we are planning to expand it to various national schools in the country so that even more children can benefit from it and be equipped with the financial knowledge they would need to thrive in today's world," added Shahril.

To measure the effectiveness of the program amongst participating students, MoneyTree would be deploying its proprietary Financial Profiling system (named "Financial Aptitude & Success Traits index" or F.A.S.T. for short) during the next phase.

"FAST would allow us to measure how much of the lessons are being internalised by students and are applied in real life situations," added Reyes.

About MaybankCashvilleKidz (CVK) for Cambodia
The Maybank CashvilleKidz Financial Literacy Program is a flagship program under Maybank Foundation.In Cambodia, the Maybank CashvilleKidzFinancial Literacy Program is a joint initiative of Maybank Foundation, Maybank Cambodia and MoneyTree Asia Pacific to promote and raise the financial literacy level of students in Cambodian schools.

About Maybank Foundation
Maybank Foundation exists to positively impact communities in markets that Maybank operates, in doing so, we aim to humanize financial services by:
- Providing people with access to financial services at fair terms and pricing
- Advising them based on their needs
- Being at the heart of the community

We continue to focus on the following core pillars:
1. Education - We empower future leaders in the finance community
2. Community Empowerment - We ensure inclusiveness of those in our communities with our progress together
3. Healthy Living - We promote community compassion
4. Arts & Culture - We promote artistic creativity of our youths
5. Environmental Diversity - We help protect our planet's diversity for our future generations
6. Disaster Relief - Mobilizing our employees together with our partners in disaster situation locally and regionally

About MoneyTree Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
MONEYTREE ASIA PACIFIC (MoneyTree) has been promoting, delivering and implementing proprietary Financial Literacy & Entrepreneurship programs to schools, enrichment centers and institutions of higher learning via a face-to- face approach since 2009.

Currently the leading Financial Education Provider in Asia, MoneyTree has been developing a series of online products and tools.

MoneyTree provides content, programs, games & teaching tools to help kids and youth aged 6-22 acquire Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship knowledge to better plan their future.

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