Hong Leong Bank (HLB) has announced the introduction of an inclusive financial literacy initiative for the visually impaired community. The HLB DuitSmart CSR platform contains financial literacy content presented in an audio format in English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Mandarin, which will also be converted into Braille.

“Financial literacy is an important basic life skill for everyone, but communities, such as the visually impaired community are often faced with challenges in getting access due to the lack of resources in Braille and also due to their socio-economic standing,” said Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and CEO of HLB. “This initiative aims to address these challenges by starting off with having material that can reach out and be used by the community to empower them with financial knowledge.”

According to Zalman Zainal, Chief Marketing & Communication Officer of HLB, the initiative will start off with 30 financial literacy articles in audio format. These will cover the areas of Understanding Common Financial Jargon, Investment and Savings, Financing, Scams, Emergency Fund Planning, and EPF Members Entitlement. “These audio files were recorded in-house by our staff who had volunteered for this special project,” he revealed.

HLB DuitSmart was first launched in September 2019 with the wider aim of making financial information and knowledge more accessible to all Malaysians. Besides the latest inclusion of audio-accessible financial literacy content in the platform, Hong Leong Bank also took measures to bridge the gap faced by Malaysia’s visually impaired community with regards to access to financing. Last year, HLB introduced the nation’s first talking ATMs for the visually impaired community in its Brickfields and Pulau Tikus branches.

“We are grateful to know that Hong Leong Bank is taking the first step to make banking and financial education more accessible and inclusive of the visually impaired community. This initiative is truly a step forward in addressing the challenges we face with financial services and understanding them better,” said Moses Choo, Consultant for the National Council for the Blind, Malaysia. “With this, we look forward to working with more banks and are ready to provide feedback, creating equal opportunities for our community to benefit from the products, services and solutions the banking industry has to offer.”

You can gain access to the audio financial literacy files on the HLB DuitSmart website.

• TAGS:
• CSR
• Financial Literacy
• HLB
• HLB DuitSmart
• HLB DuitSmart CSR
• Hong Leong Bank
• Visually Impaired
• Visually Impaired Assistance