The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) suggests that perhaps efforts to promote financial literacy should model itself on the Participaction campaign to encourage physical activity.
In a letter to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) on its forthcoming strategic plan for the 2014-2019 period, the CLHIA says that it supports the FCAC’s focus on implementing a national financial literacy strategy.
It says that the FCAC’s plan includes promoting public awareness of financial institutions’ obligations, and of consumer rights and responsibilities. “While this will help to contribute to financial literacy, we wonder if the plan should include a broader awareness-building objective with respect to financial literacy,” it says.
The CLHIA notes that while a web portal to promote financial literacy is a good idea, these already exist and it’s not clear how much they are used.
“This begs the question as to whether or not Canadians are sufficiently intrigued and engaged in using such tools,” it says. And, it proposes the ‘Participaction’ campaign, which focused on physical activity, as a possible model for improving consumer engagement.
The FCAC indicates that it will publicly release its strategic plan later this year (its fiscal year ends March 31).