RIYADH, 11 October 2007 — Visa International has launched an educational campaign in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to teach financial literacy and responsible financial behavior to students. With new academic year approaching, Visa has issued a step-by-step guide to help avoid the pitfalls of student debt and equip students with the financial skills to get the most out of their university experience.
“Visa has developed a bilingual Arabic and English financial literacy website, www.ehsib.com, for people of all ages to take a step closer to financial freedom,” said Ihab Ayoub, general manager at Visa International for Saudi Arabia, here on Tuesday. Ayoub said “the website covers core skills such as budgeting and avoiding financial pitfalls.” The first step suggested is to open a bank account.
“In fact, starting university, whether in Riyadh or overseas is possibly one of the biggest changes in a young person’s life,” Ayoub said. The move to launch financial literacy is significant keeping in view the growing use of cards by students. In fact, the total number of credit cards in the MENA region has jumped by 24 percent to 6.23 million in 2006 compared to the same period a year before, according to Lafferty Group, a UK-based retail banking & cards research house.
According to Lafferty’s analysis, Saudi Arabia is the most profitable market in the region, both in terms of overall profitability and profit per card, at $107 million and $95, respectively. Referring to the account options made available for students, he said that a ‘Savings Account’ is an easy way to start accumulating some financial reserves, whereas a current account will help students to deposit their regular income, grant or allowance.
“With the help of these accounts, a student will typically be able to withdraw money from an ATM and use a debit card for shopping and have these transactions deducted from account balance,” he said. The financial literacy website also offers debit cards to students and explains to them as how debit cards work, he added. A credit card should have a 20 to 30 days grace period so that interest won’t be charged, if a student pays the balance in full every month, he said.
These financial tips are essential as many students in Saudi Arabia or Gulf countries also earn money, while doing part-time jobs, attending summer training programs or by way of scholarships, he said. Visa operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network. Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries.