Financial education has fast emerged as a pivotal instrument to help individuals and households navigate the increasingly complex financial decisions they must make in the short-term and long-term. Though not entirely similar to consumer protection, arguably, effective financial education will help empower consumers to protect themselves through prudent wealth management and wise spending behaviours. By employing qualitative content analysis, this study examines the development of financial education initiatives implemented by the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) since the introduction of the Financial Sector Master Plan 2001. The study found that BNM as the regulator has consistently committed to formulating numerous approaches to educate financial consumers through Consumer Education Programmes, a strategic partnership known as Financial Education Network, and the introduction of the National Strategy of Financial Literacy and Financial Literacy Month. It is also submitted that financial education's success does not solely rely on financial regulators but requires cooperation from relevant non-governmental organisations and consumers.
Ahmad, M. (2010). Why Islamic financial literacy is important. Personal Money, 46.
AKPK. (2018). Financial behaviour and state of financial well-being of Malaysian working adults. AKPK Financial Behaviour Survey 2018 (AFBeS’18), 2018, 1–70.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. (2011). ANZ Survey of Adult Financial Literacy in Australia:Full Report.
Aziz, Z. A. (2011). Consumer protection and financial education. Financial Inclusion Policymakers Forum on Consumer Protection and Financial Education.
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2015). Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report 2015.
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2016). Financial Stability and Payment System Report 2016.
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2018). Financial Stability and Payment System Report 2018.
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2020). Launch of the Inaugural Financial Literacy Month by Financial Education Network. https://www.bnm.gov.my/-/launch-of-the-inaugural-financial-literacy-month-by-financial-education-network
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2021). Annual Financial Literacy Month, October 2021. https://www.bnm.gov.my/-/flm2021-en
Briault, C. (1999). The rationale for a single national regulator. Occasional Paper Series, 2.
Cartwright, P. (2004). Banks,Consumers and Regulation. Hart Publishing.
Di Castri, S. (2011). Empowering and Protecting Financial Consumers: Bank Negara Malaysia’s Consumer and Market Conduct Framework. In Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
Ferran, E. (2012). The New Mandate for the Supervision of Financial Services Conduct. Current Legal Problems, 65(1), 411–453.
Financial Education Crucial to Plan for the Future, Says BNM Deputy Governor. (2017). The Star.
Graneheim, U. H., Lindgren, B.-M., & Lundman, B. (2017). Methodological challenges in qualitative content analysis: A discussion paper. Nurse Education Today, 56, 29–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.06.002
Graneheim, U. H., & Lundman, B. (2004). Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2003.10.001
Howells, G. (2005). The potential and limits of consumer empowerment by information. Journal of Law and Society, 32(3), 349–370.
Huston, S. J. (2010). Measuring Financial Literacy. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 44(2), 296–316. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2010.01170.x
Jonathan, F., Bartholomae, S., & Lee, J. (2005). Building the Case for Financial Inclusion. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39, 194–214.
Mokhtar, N., Sabri, M. F., & Ho, C. S. F. (2020). Financial Capability and Differences in Age and Ethnicity. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(10), 1081–1091. https://doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no10.1081
Syahida, N. N. T., Elistina, A. B., Zuroni, M. J., Mastura, A. M. A., & Sa’odah, A. (2019). The intensity of consumer education and consumer empowerment among Malaysian consumers. Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics, 22(Special Edition 2), 23–42.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2005). Improving Financial Literacy: Analysis of Issues and Policies. OECD Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264012578-en
Oxford Dictionaries. (2021). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries | Find definitions, translations, and grammar explanations at Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
The ASEAN Secretariat. (2020). Pilot Project ASEAN Consumer Empowerment Index 2020
Thinagaran, M. D., & Mohamad Fazli, S. (2017). The Financial Status and Factors Affecting Personal Well-Being Among Urban Poor in KualaLumpur. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities(MJSSH), 2(1), 21–39.
https://msocialsciences.com/index.php/mjssh/article/view/34/34
Williams, T. (2007). Empowerment of Whom and for What? Financial Literacy Education and the New Regulation of Consumer Financial Services. Law & Policy, 29(2), 226–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2007.00254.x
Wright, L. T., Newman, A., & Dennis, C. (2006). Enhancing consumer empowerment. European Journal of Marketing, 40(9–10), 925–935.
https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560610680934
World Bank Group. (2021). Building a Financial Education Approach A Starting Point for Financial Sector Authorities.
Yew, S. Y., Yong, C. C., Cheong, K. C., & Tey, N. P. (2017). Does financial education matter? Education literacy among undergraduates in Malaysia. Institutions and Economies, 9(1), 43–60.
In-Text Citation: (Ilias & A’zmi, 2022)
To Cite this Article: Ilias, I. @ I., & A’zmi, A. N. (2022). Financial Education and Consumer Empowerment: The Development in Malaysia with Reference to the Role of Regulator. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(11), 44– 55.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
