RIYADH: The Capital Market Authority (CMA), Saudi Arabia's capital market regulator will soon launch “The Smart Investor”, a nationwide finance awareness program targeting schoolchildren between the age group of nine and 14 years. According to a CMA official, the program is aimed at creating awareness among the potential future investors about the fundamentals of savings, finance, investments, a major step to promote financial literacy among Saudi youths. “The purpose of the program is to create systematic financial investment practices among schoolchildren both boys and girls between the ages of nine and 14,” he said. He said the move is to help develop a healthy financial culture in the Saudi society from childhood. ‘The Smart Investor' to be launched by the end of July will educate children in the principles of money management, investment, saving mechanisms, and introduce them to the roles and responsibilities of key financial institutions in the country, besides promoting Islamic values, ethics and a proper attitude towards money, he said. Under the supervision of the CMA, a team of professionals has developed the program. Besides, lectures organized at summer camps, shopping malls and exhibitions, the campaign will include use of social networking sites such as facebook, twitter and Youtube. “The CMA's Smart Investor drive is based on studies and surveys conducted by world-acclaimed financial institutions that financial and investment awareness at an early stage contribute to the avoidance of a crisis, and investors in capital markets become wary of the risks involved in various investments,” said CMA official. CMA has been publishing a bi-annual magazine “The Smart Investor” for the past two years. The publication targets children at elementary and intermediate levels and teaches them the basics of finance and saving in a way suitable to their ages. CMA distributed over 150,000 copies of the magazine to children via more than 100 visits to public and private schools and shopping malls across Saudi Arabia. The copies of the magazine were also distributed free of cost at airports, railway stations, and during public events such as the Riyadh International Book Fair, the International Day for Children, and the Saudi Women's Development Forum. The magazine can be viewed and downloaded from CMA's official website: www.cma.org.sa The new program is a continuation of CMA's awareness efforts to educate current and future investors about the rules and regulations of the capital market and to provide a secure environment for investment in the capital market. In the past two years, CMA conducted road shows in 2008-2009 and 2010 which covered 18 major cities and towns in Saudi Arabia for three months every year. Over 500,000 copies of CMA's 14 awareness booklets, Smart Investor magazines, brochures, leaflets, as well as copies of its rules and regulations were distributed to the public. As many as 268,000 male and female citizens and residents visited CMA's stands in malls and exhibitions in 2010 alone.
