British Virgin Islands

Coordinator: BVI Financial Services Commission, MONEY MATTERS BVI unit Participating organisations: Althea Scatliffe Primary School; First Impressions Primary School; St. George’s Primary School; Elmore Stoutt High School; VI School of Technical Studies; Bregado Flax Educational Centre – Secondary Division; Bregado Flax Educational Centre – Primary Division; Joyce Samuel Primary School; Agape Total Life Academy; Century House Montessori School; Pelican Gate School; Excelsior Primary School; Popular V.I.; FirstBank V.I.; CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank; VP Bank (BVI) Ltd; National Bank of the Virgin Islands; Republic Bank (BVI) Limited; Pension Management Interactive; Caribbean Insurers Limited; Alphonso Warner Insurance Agency; Creque’s Insurance Agency Limited; NAGICO BVI – Century Insurance Agency Ltd.; Treasury Department, Government of the Virgin Islands; 284 Media; Virgin Islands News Online; BVI Beacon Total number of participating organisations: Not reported Number of children and young people reached directly: 345 Number of adults reached directly: Not reported Number of people reached indirectly: 10,700

MONEY MATTERS BVI in collaboration with several local financial institutions led the British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) participation in Global Money Week activities through various initiatives.

A press release was published and carried by local print, radio, and social media houses to kick off the week. A billboard sign was also erected near a main highway high traffic area to raise public awareness regarding the campaign and theme of “Build your future, be smart about money.”

The main highlight for the week commenced on Monday 22 March and involved MONEY MATTERS BVI, which hosted visits to the premises of participating financial services providers. A safari bus company was hired to transport the various cohorts of children. MONEY MATTERS BVI facilitated 32 separate trips with a total of 345 children, 75% of whom were between ages 6 and 12, with the remaining others being between ages 13 and 18. During the visits children learned about insurance risks, underinsurance, different types of insurance, the job of tellers and other bank officers, how automatic teller machines work, negotiable instruments, taxes, purchase orders, salaries, loans, vaults, safety deposit boxes, investment banking, pensions, stock markets, the impact of international events on invested funds, and more. They were given significant access to various areas at the banks, shown examples of documents, and visited an active investment trading floor. Updates regarding the visits were provided to the public in the form of photos and commentary posted on the MONEY MATTERS BVI Facebook and Instagram pages.

Whilst facilitating the youngest groups of students, MONEY MATTERS BVI team was pleased to have them interact with their mascot – Ace the Ant, along with a mascot from one of the local banks.

During the visits, the MONEY MATTERS BVI team members wore branded GMW polo shirts. Officers of the participating financial institutions lauded the field trip initiative as an excellent way for youth to gain first-hand experience of the importance of financial services and the financial system, and the role that money plays. Apart from being willing to answer the many questions that the students came armed with, they gifted students with brochures and refreshments; further, a lucky group of young students each left one bank with a freshly minted one-dollar bill.

As a post-activity task, MONEY MATTERS BVI provided primary teachers with ‘I Came, I Saw, I Learned’ forms which students completed and used for subsequent discussions and presentations at school.