The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced efforts to enhance financial education and consumer protection through online and innovative training platforms. In a statement, the BSP introduced the initial set of BSP-BDO Foundation (BDOF) financial education e-learning modules. These modules, which cover financial planning, budgeting and saving, and debt management, were launched at the Innovative Financial Education Programs event held at the central bank’s head office in Manila.
The central bank has also developed the BSP E-Learning Academy (BELA), an online platform providing courses on personal finance, economics, and central banking. BELA is designed to complement the BSP’s current financial education programs, which are delivered both in-person and through various other methods. The BSP noted that select stakeholders are currently testing BELA, with full public access anticipated by the second quarter of 2025.
During the launch, the central bank also signed fin-ed partnership agreements with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Agriculture (DA), Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP), BDOF, and BDO Unibank, Inc. “Our initiatives are designed to help people safeguard credit cardholders from potential pitfalls, transform over 37,000 DSWD employees and 3,600 local social welfare officers into champions of financial literacy, and capacitate over 10.8 million Filipino farmers and fisherfolk through innovative educational tools”, BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
The BSP announced that the modules will be accessible through BELA and will soon be available on the e-learning platforms of the BSP’s institutional financial education partners. Additionally, the BSP-BDOF is developing six more courses on topics such as the basics of investing, fraud and scams, financial consumer protection, digital financial literacy, the Personal Equity Retirement Account, and key economic indicators. These courses will also be available through BELA and to the BSP’s institutional partners.
The memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed with the DSWD and the BDOF formalizes their collaboration in developing and implementing a financial education program for DSWD employees and social welfare officers of local government units. This program will be incorporated into the DSWD Academy’s regular training curriculum.
