U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Cordray Delivers Keynote at Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago / Visa Inc. Financial Literacy and Education Summit

Visa releases research at Summit showing Brazil has the most financially literate women, followed by Australia, Mexico and the United States

CHICAGO, April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard Cordray, the Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, delivered the keynote address today at the annual Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago / Visa Financial Literacy and Education Summit, which brought together government leaders from around the world to focus on the unique personal finance challenges facing women.

At the Summit, Visa released research findings from their global Financial Literacy Barometer that shows Brazil's women are the most financially literate, followed by Australia, Mexico, the U.S. and New Zealand.

In addition to Director Cordray, the Summit featured well-respected speakers, including: Yaseen Anwar, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan; Camille Busette, Assistant Director at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Linah Mohohlo, Governor of the Bank of Botswana; and Bernie Ripoll, Australia's Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer.

This is the seventh consecutive year the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Visa have held this summit, which helps to mark financial literacy month in the U.S. and Money Smart Week in Chicago.  

"The summit has become an important annual event that helps improve financial literacy outcomes in the United States and around the world and is a direct result of the public-private partnership between the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Visa," said Charles Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

"It is imperative that governments and the private sector collaborate to ensure people everywhere have the tools and resources they need to achieve financial success," said Jason Alderman, Senior Director of Global Financial Education, Visa Inc.  "The government officials gathered for this summit are a clear indication that financial literacy remains a vital public policy issue the world over."

A panel of top international journalists also spoke at the summit, including: Alison Griffiths, a personal finance columnist with MSN Money in Canada; Maya Fisher-French, a personal finance columnist at City Press in South Africa; Adina Chelminsky, a personal finance columnist for  Excelsior in Mexico; Mara Luquet, a personal finance reporter for CBN radio and TV Globo in Brazil; K. Oanh Ha, the Vietnam bureau chief for Bloomberg News; and Amira Salah-Ahmed, deputy editor with the Egypt Independent.

The Financial Literacy Barometer was conducted to help quantify the personal finance hurdles women face.  The survey, conducted with 25,000 participants in 27 countries, also found:

• In all but one of the countries surveyed, women have saved less money for emergencies than the men of their nation.  And even in that one outlier, Australia, women had barely saved more than the men, the equivalent of just a few extra days of living expenses.
• Women are far more determined than men to ensure that their children grow up financially literate. The data found that women spend nearly three more weeks a year than men talking to and educating their own children about money management.
• Women also believe that governments should require schools to teach financial literacy to children at an earlier age than male respondents.

The Financial Literacy and Education Summit is part of Visa's long-standing global financial education program, Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com).  Visa's Practical Money Skills for Life initiative reaches millions of people around the world each year. Launched in 1995, the free program is now available in more than a dozen languages in thirty countries.

The summit can be viewed online at: www.practicalmoneyskills.com/summit2013 .

About the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, DC, make up the nation's central bank.  The Chicago Reserve Bank serves the Seventh Federal Reserve District, which encompasses the northern portions of Illinois and Indiana, southern Wisconsin, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and the state of Iowa. In addition to participation in the formulation of monetary policy, each Reserve Bank supervises member banks and bank holding companies, provides financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. government, and monitors economic conditions in its District.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency.  Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks-VisaNet-that is capable of handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products.  For more information, visit http://www.corporate.visa.com.

SOURCE Visa Inc. and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago