Financial education portal introduced in the UAE

18/09/2014 01:02 AST

In a unique banking industry such as the UAE, the public is in need of a financial platform to equip them with the necessary banking knowledge to carry out their day-to-day banking needs.
To address that gap, financial empowerment in the form of education is significant for banking customers. In light of that a UAE’s first of its kind digital platform www.foloosy.ae has been launched to encourage financial education across the UAE.
The launch of the platform was announced by AbdulAziz Al Ghurair during a press briefing on Wednesday, which is meant to make customers more knowledgeable about financial know-how.
Foloosy (which is the Arabic word for My Money) website, is supported by an app and various social media sites, has been strictly designed with the objective to empower residents in the UAE with the knowledge they need to choose the financial products that are best-suited to them and to avoid making potentially costly financial mistakes. Foloosy mobile app is put together to provide ultimate convenience to individuals who wish to have it installed in their phones and it will have the same information as the website.
Mashreq’s CEO, AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, said: ìThe need for financial education across the UAE has never been greater. I have on many occasions spoke about Inclusive Banking for all in the UAE and Foloosy is a reflection of that. This platform is to provide individuals with basic and fundamental knowledge of money and banking matters. We know that the common man needs banking services, but yet he is either misinformed or scared to ask or gets intimidated.
Today’s personal finance landscape is highly complex compared with just a generation ago, and people today need to be able to differentiate between a huge raft of products and product providers to successfully manage their financial obligations. Young adults have access to credit at a far earlier age than many of their parents will have done ñ and it is vital they fully understand the implications of borrowing money before making mistakes that will potentially stay with them for many years.”
The website is operated by Mashreq, one of the UAE’s leading National Financial institutions and the country’s second oldest
Bank and forms part of the Bank’s commitment to raising the level of financial education available in the UAE.
Although operated by Mashreq, it can be used by anyone, regardless of what banking institution they use as it is designed very much to be an overall financial knowledge centre. The Foloosy.ae site features five-core personal finance pillars ñ Save, Borrow, Invest and Insure and Islamic Banking.
Al Ghurair added, ìFoloosy.ae should be seen first and foremost as a knowledge portal. It is there to provide tips and advice across the full personal financial spectrum and can also be used to reassure people if they need advice when they are new to the UAE. Knowledge is power ñ and this is no different when it comes to financial education. We very much hope that Foloosy will become a natural reference point when people want to know more about the financial world open to them, whether they have lived in the UAE all of their lives or have recently moved here.î
Each of these has learn and explore sections, designed to provide a full educational overview and analyze some potential products available. Each of the four pillars also features test your knowledge and explore sections, designed to test visitorsí knowledge on the topics they have been reading about in a very interactive manner. There are various other interactive tools available that allows visitors to see how much they need to save or what they need to do to achieve specific financial goals.
To accompany the website there is also a Foloosy app which can be downloaded from Android application which is live now while Apple Store application will be launched very soon.

The Gulf Today