Type to search

In-Brief

OCIF launches awareness campaign on the importance of financial training

The Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions announced the launch of an educational campaign to promote financial education at all levels.

The initiative, which has the slogan “Sal a Flote” as its title, emerges as part of the efforts carried out by the agency known as OCIF for its initials in Spanish during “Financial Education Month.”

OCIF Commissioner George Joyner, said the agency he heads has the mission of regulating Puerto Rico’s financial system and safeguarding the strength and competitiveness of the industry. 

“However, our mission can’t be limited to regulating banking on the Island. The financial system does not depend only on the industry,” he said. “A good stable financial system begins with the education the people have to maintain their own healthy finances.” 

Since 2011, April has been designated as financial education month under a presidential decree so residents of the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico dedicate time to boosting their personal finances, so that future financial crises can be prevented, such as the recession of 2008. Puerto Rico adopted the practice in 2015, the OCIF confirmed.

“Our goal with this initiative is for Puerto Ricans to be aware of the need to educate themselves on financial issues so that they develop saving and investment habits and can manage debt responsibly, said Joyner. 

“At the same time, we want to warn against financial exploitation that affects older adults both in Puerto Rico and globally. We want people to be more informed and obtain the best services and offers provided by the financial industry in Puerto Rico, through conscious and responsible use,” Joyner added.

As part of the recently launched campaign, the OCIF, through the Puerto Rico Institute of Financial Education, created an online survey that aims to measure the knowledge that citizens have about basic finance issues. 

“With this survey, which can be accessed through www.salaflote.com, we want to garner information from the population itself, to measure the level of financial training they have,” said Velia Cardona, director of the Institute.

“This way, we can design more and better education programs that meet the specific needs of our citizens,” she said.

Author Details
Author Details
This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
Tags:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *