The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a new online educational platform as part of a wider initiative to improve financial literacy.

The Commission is also coordinating with Congress to include financial literacy as a mandatory subject in the high school curriculum.

The revamped “SEC Academy” was introduced at an event at the SEC Headquarters in Makati City on November 12. The platform, available for free, offers online courses on personal finance, investing, and spotting investment scams.

According to the SEC, policymakers, government officials, and industry experts deliver these courses.

SEC Chairperson Francis Lim stated the platform aims to make financial education widely available.

“We are… relaunching the SEC Academy, a free online learning hub where anyone from students to retirees—can learn about saving, budgeting, and investing responsibly,” Lim said. “Because financial education should not be for the few, but for everyone who dreams of a better life”.

The SEC’s efforts extend to the education system, where it is supporting a move to make financial literacy a “core and mandatory subject” in high school.

Chairperson Lim noted the importance of this step for protecting the public from fraud.

“We are working with Congress… because a financially literate Filipino is a protected investor,” Lim stated.

This initiative is supported by data indicating low financial literacy rates. A 2023 survey by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) found that only 2% of Filipinos could correctly answer six basic financial literacy questions.

The BSP also reported that investment scams cost the country approximately PHP 25 billion in 2021.

Lim said the goal is “making financial literacy part of our national culture”.

Featured image by the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).