National Bank of Georgia and Visa Launch Educational Online Game

Yesterday at the Biltmore Hotel in Tbilisi, representatives from Visa and the National Bank of Georgia signed a memorandum of understanding on a new project to promote financial literacy in Georgia. One of the National Bank’s priority areas is to improve financial literacy among the population.

The game is called Financial Football. Visa has created versions of the game in several countries and now, with the cooperation of the National Bank, is bringing it to Georgia. The game is FIFA World Cup-branded, and is a part of Visa’s international mission to help children and adults learn about personal finance. The curriculum used in the game has won awards and offers an innovative and engaging approach to financial education.

Visa has worked with 42 countries worldwide to create country-specific games in 16 different languages. Financial football has been played more than five million times. The Georgian version is available for free at www.ge.financialfootball.com.

The game helps people effectively learn the fundamentals of personal finance, including budgeting, saving, responsible spending and the wise use of credit. According to Financial.ge, “Financial Football challenges players to answer fast-paced, multiple-choice money management questions correctly to advance down the field for a chance to score a goal. Features of the game include two options: single player and head-to-head options. The game has three difficulty levels - geared to children, teens and adults. Players learn key concepts about saving, responsible spending, budgeting, and the wise use of credits, according to NBG. In addition to the game modules, the program offers tutorials for teachers, enabling them to use the content in the classroom as well. Each module contains tests and exercises to check players' knowledge.”

Archil Mestvirishvili, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Georgia, and Mrs. Joanne Marques, Vice President, Government Relations in CEMEA, Visa, signed the memorandum on Wednesday, May 30.

At the signing, Mestvirishili said: "Financial literacy is an essential part of a comprehensive consumer protection framework and one of the priority areas for the National Bank of Georgia. Financial literacy is one of the most important life skills of the 21st century. For the purpose of raising the awareness of the benefits of financial literacy and enhancing the availability of educational resources for all segments of the population, the year of 2018 has been announced as "the Year of Financial Literacy". Digital games are one of the most innovative channels for spreading financial literacy, especially among the youth; therefore, developing Financial Football Game for the Georgian market in cooperation with VISA is one more important step towards improving the awareness of the Georgian population in the fields of saving, personal finance management, borrowing, financial services and wise decision-making. We believe that our cooperation with VISA on the issues of financial literacy will be fruitful."

On the Visa side, Dmytro Krepak, Acting Group Country Manager in CIS&CEE, expressed his excitement for the move, saying, “Financial literacy programs will benefit every member of society by helping them gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to make informed financial choices. We are pleased to cooperate with the National Bank of Georgia to promote financial education platforms and hope that the Financial Football will become a valuable resource for local schools and non-governmental organizations to work with youngsters in the field of financial literacy."

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: Financial Football