PlayMoolah and OCBC Bank partner to educate children about the need to start saving early through new Mighty Savers campaign

PlayMoolah and OCBC Bank partner to educate children about the need to start saving early through new Mighty Savers campaign

More important for children to learn about saving at an early age as Singaporeans save less

Singapore, 25 July 2013 - PlayMoolah, a Singapore based company that enables children to make smarter money decisions, is working in conjunction with OCBC Bank for the second year running, in a mission to teach young children about the importance of saving and starting early as saving rates in Singapore keep dropping.

The need for children to begin saving from an early age is especially critical now. Singaporeans have been saving less than before, reaching the lowest saving gross domestic rate of 49.16% of annual GDP, a 7.5% drop from 2007[1]. By building the habit of saving from a young age, children would grow into adults with a more healthy relationship with money.

As part of OCBC Bank’s Mighty Savers(R) engagement programme, children can get their hands on a new line of limited edition plush toys that feature the programme’s mascots dressed in space suits and ready to visit the various planets in PlayMoolah.com – with one new mascot available each month from July through to October, culminating in an inflatable space ship to hold the mascots.

OCBC Bank remains committed to innovating around the savings experience and therefore will provide access to the full version of PlayMoolah.com for all participating kids, an online platform that helps children to learn and understand the value of money at an early stage, with every plush toy earned by a child.

“I look forward to collecting all 4 secret codes for each deposit that I made and I can learn through Playmoolah money management online tool! ” said 10-year old Darius.

“We’re very excited to be working with OCBC again especially as people in Singapore are putting lesser and lesser emphasis on the habit of saving money. We both believe that there is a big need for children to build a positive relationship with money from a young age and learn about it through the power of play. One of the lessons we teach on PlayMoolah.com is the practice of working towards a savings goal. With Mighty Savers™, savings is one of the fundamental learnings that allows parents to kickstart money conversations with their children early on,” said Audrey Tan, CEO, PlayMoolah.

Ms Ng Li Lian, Head of Mass Segment at OCBC Bank said: “We are encouraged by our customers’ overwhelming reception of this quarter’s OCBC Mighty Savers Space Adventure theme. The integration of the Mighty Savers’ gift redemption with secret codes to unlock an online experience is an innovative way to encourage children to save and learn.  Once online, the PlayMoolah money management tool teaches them important savings concepts. We believe this is definitely a fun way to teach children to save, an important outcome for our OCBC Mighty Savers programme.”

The release of the Mighty Saver’s mascot Simon in July has already been highly popular, with both parents and their kids, as the plush toy acts as an attractive incentive for children to find ways to save.

Using PlayMoolah.com as an incentive also reiterates the real life exercise of saving, by challenging kids to understand different dimensions of money, and building a healthy relationship with it.

About PlayMoolah

PlayMoolah is an innovation company based out of Singapore and San Francisco, US that designs authentic experiences for children and young adults to learn about and how to responsibly handle money. Partnering with their parents, peers and financial / learning institutions, kids learn to earn, spend, save, invest, and give in a way that's fun, educational, and safe. PlayMoolah designs game mechanics to inspire real-world action, giving children the knowledge, skills, and tools needed for financial literacy. PlayMoolah is on a mission to empower the next generation to realize how money can help achieve their goals and create value in the world.

Find out more about PlayMoolah at www.playmoolah.com

For Media Enquiries:

Lars Voedisch
PRecious Communications for PlayMoolah
Mobile: (+65) 9170 2470
Email: lars@preciouscomms.com
 

Lynnice Ng
Group Corporate Communications
OCBC Bank
Tel: (+65) 6530 1268 or (+65) 9745 0179
Email: nglhlynnice@ocbc.com 

[1] The World Bank (2013) Data Catalog http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDS.TOTL.ZS