Article from Harakah dated 15 September 2014
Kuala Lumpur – Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Negara Malaysia, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lions Clubs District 308 B1 Malaysia on Sept 8 in their joint efforts to enhance financial literacy levels of Malaysian society. The signing ceremony which took place recently at the Royale Chulan Hotel, was witnessed by AKPK’s Chairman, Y. Bhg Dato’ Mohd Hanif Sher Mohamed and Mr Joe Preston, President of Lions Clubs International.
This MOU aims to strengthen ties between AKPK and Lions Clubs District 308 B1 through the “AKPK with Lions Clubs Programme”, which assists in the dissemination of information on personal financial management to target segments.
Madam Koid Swee Lian, CEO of AKPK said, “Financial literacy is an essential life skill. I trust that our ‘AKPK with Lions Clubs Programme’ will nurture more financially astute consumers and encourage prudent financial management.”
Under the programme, AKPK shall provide financial education, credit counselling and debt management services in collaboration with Lions Clubs as part of their community service which aims at creating a financially savvy society.
“Consumers with low levels of financial literacy tend to suffer for their financial ignorance. Therefore, AKPK’s programmes aim to educate consumers on effective personal financial management and is a pre-emptive measure to avoid over indebtedness,” she continued.
“We recognise AKPK’s efforts in providing financial education to the public. In line with the principles of good government and good citizenship, we are hopeful this synergy partnership would create greater awareness to the community to be more financially savvy through the ‘AKPK with Lions Clubs Programme”, said Lim Hoe Guan, the newly installed District Governor 308 B1 Malaysia.
Since its inception until 31 July 2014, 280,428 individuals have attended AKPK’s counselling services and from that, 112,188 customers have applied to enrol into its Debt Management Programme.
For further information on AKPK and its services, please go to www.akpk.org.my or call AKPK’s toll free number at 1-800-88-2575.