Governance, Registered and Independents Clubs
Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club
ABOUT US
The Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club is a public-spirited society founded in 2014 by Citi Singapore and Singapore Management University (SMU) with the support of the Citi Foundation. We champion the education of financial literacy in young adults, helping them become financially savvy and well-equipped to make informed economic choices regarding saving, investing, borrowing, and more.
Our flagship programme - Train-The-Trainers (TTT) - aims to equip students with crucial financial literacy knowledge and classroom management skills. Throughout the programme, students from different Institutes of Higher Learning are taught by domain experts from the SMU faculty, industry practitioners, and government agencies. Upon completing their training, these students are awarded a Certificate of Completion and would form our trainer representatives to support outreach events to share the financial knowledge and skills they have learnt to fellow young adults and teenagers in Singapore.
KEY EVENTS
As a recognised financial literacy institute, the Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club hosts various events to extend our outreach in promoting financial literacy across Singapore.
- Financial Literacy Challenge (FLC)
FLC is a mini-competition for students of Junior Colleges, Polytechnics, and Institutes of Technical Education (ITE). Participants will team up and join different financial literacy-themed challenges ranging from designing infographics on financial topics to racing one another in a thrilling Amazing Race! - Financial Inclusion Hackathon (FInHack)
In our annual intervarsity hackathon, teams of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the six autonomous universities in Singapore take on each other in a problem-solving competition. Our various partners and other non-profit organisations will provide problem statements that reflect current and emerging societal challenges, with the teams tasked with catalysing innovative solutions to address these real-world needs. - MyMoney @ Campus
Since its inception in 2018, MyMoney @ Campus has been led by the strategic alliance comprising MoneySense (MOM & MAS), the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), and Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club. The 6-week financial literacy-themed event occurs online in a captivating virtual city, where participants navigate through various thoughtfully curated and highly interactive educational booths and games. - Symposium
The Symposium is our annual conference where distinguished industry leaders are invited to rub shoulders and share their thoughts on trending topics on Financial Literacy, such as Sustainable Finance and Investing, Digital Finance, Wealth Management, Fintech and more. It is also the time of the year when we share our achievements with our esteemed guests and establish new partnerships or strengthen existing ones to increase the club's capabilities and outreach. - Financial Literacy Awareness Day (FAD)
FAD is an annual fun-filled event held across various local schools featuring carnival games and learning booths to build early interest in financial literacy through interactive learning and engaging activities.
GALLERY
OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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UNIVERSITY STUDENT LIFE AWARDS 2023
Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club won the SMU Excellence in Student Life Silver Award (School/Office/Centre/Institute Club Category).Our student trainers Carissa Ho and Ulicia Yip clinched the SMU Excellence in Student Life Bronze Award (Individual Category).
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UNIVERSITY STUDENT LIFE AWARDS 2022
Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club won the SMU Excellence in Student Life Gold Award (School/Office/Centre/Institute Club Category).Our student trainer, Phua Yu Lian Sherilyn, won the SMU Excellence in Student Life Gold Award (Individual Category - School/Office/Centre/Institute Club).
Our student trainer, Christopher Yap Jun Hao, won the SMU Excellence in Student Life Silver Award (Individual Category - Student Leadership).
Our student trainers have also consistently secured spots in SMU Excellence in Student Life Bronze Award (Individual Category) since 2017. This year, Woo Hui En, Wong Hong Ming Bill, and Ivan Tay Zhang Ling have continued the legacy.
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UNIVERSITY STUDENT LIFE AWARDS 2021
Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club won the SMU Excellence in Student Life Gold Award (School/Office/Centre/Institute Club Category).Our student trainer, Elijah Tan, clinched the Tan Tee Chee & Tsan Kah Ngooh Excellence in Student Life Silver Award (Individual - Special Interest & Adventure Category).
Our student trainer, Reshma Dogiparthy, won the SMU Excellence in Student Life Silver Award (Individual Category - Student Leadership).
Our student trainers have also consistently secured spots in SMU Excellence in Student Life Bronze Award (Individual Category) since 2017. This year, Elijah Tan and Toh Zheng Hao have continued the legacy.
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MY MONEY @ CAMPUS
MoneySense (co-led by Monetary Authority of Singapore and Ministry of Manpower) and Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) have commissioned Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club to organize the inaugural My Money @ Campus at Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education (ITE) colleges in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Both events were graced by Minister for Education Mr Ong Ye Kung. In 2021, My Money @ Campus went virtual and had garnered a footfall of more than 73,000 students. Throughout the six-week event, students navigated a virtual city, learning financial literacy concepts through interactive learning booths and engaging financial literacy games! The event was launched by Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Education and Manpower. Continuing the success and effectiveness of the virtual learning and engagement concept, the interactive Financial Literacy Microsite was enhanced for My Money @ Campus in 2023. We achieved close to 110,000 views from registrants and participants! -
SMOOLAH
Our club trailblazed the effort in making financial literacy accessible, fun and relevant for all through the development of an Augmented Reality (AR) based Financial Literacy Mobile Game Application called SmooLah. Through the game, young adults can learn FinLit concepts such as Savings, Budgeting, Investment, Insurance, and FinTech in a fun and interactive manner.
OUR PEOPLE IN ACTION
HOW TO JOIN THE CLUB?
It is required for everyone to go through an interview to join the club. The purpose is to assess the candidate’s level of interest in gaining new financial literacy knowledge, as well as their passion to impart the knowledge to others.
“Joining Citi Foundation-SMU Financial Literacy Club has been a life-changing experience for me! The friendships and bonds formed, as well as the opportunity to try new things, enhance my skills and impact the lives of others have value added to my school life. It has truly been a fulfilling experience!”
- Christopher, President, School of Business, Year 4
“Servitude. Inspirational. Authentic. These are the hallmarks of taking on such a role and it is indeed a privilege to lead my Event Directors in their growth journeys. A treacherous path lies ahead but I will remind myself to keep breathing and move on!”
- Ivan, Vice President (Events), School of Business, Year 3
FAQ
Firstly, our club is free to join. You will have to sign up for a six-week program called Train-the-Trainers (TTT), where you will undergo training sessions and gain financial literacy knowledge, with the topics taught by SMU Professors. Industry experts from CPF Board, HDB and Citibank, are also invited to share more on the practical applications of the topics and upcoming trends in the industry.
As a qualified trainer, our members will be involved in workshops to impart their financial literacy knowledge to other young adults in institutions like Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education (ITE). They also get to learn important financial knowledge, classroom management skills, real-life applications of the finlit knowledge, and upcoming trends in the industry. Also, trainers are awarded CSP hours (Community Service hours) in some workshops as an added bonus!
Yes, of course! We welcome everyone and we will train our participants on essential financial literacy knowledge during our Train-the-Trainers (TTT) program. All we need is someone who has the passion to learn and share the knowledge with others.
The TTT program will groom trainers through a comprehensive program where they will learn about financial literacy knowledge and classroom management.
We also recently covered FinTech, to ensure that the TTT curriculum stays relevant to the current developments in the industry.
Upon completion of the TTT program, participants will be certified as an Adjunct Trainer. They will then be allowed to sign up for Citi Foundation-SMU’s engagements / workshops to teach the students in other institutions. In the first few workshop engagements, they would be paired up with an experienced trainer. After successfully clearing 3 workshops, participants will be promoted to a Trainer Status, where they would be recognized as a senior and would be leading those new trainers that freshly graduated from TTT.
The workshops are all on an ad-hoc basis, so there is no weekly commitment! Participants may just sign up with us whenever they are free! Of course, they are encouraged to sign up with us as often as possible!
Yes, anyone can be part of our organising committee or volunteer for our various events organised. However, only those who have gone through our Train-the-Trainers program (TTT) may join us as an EXCO member.
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