ABA Foundation Offers Comments to Treasury on Updating National Financial Literacy Strategy

In a new comment letter submitted today to the U.S. Treasury, the ABA Foundation offered its perspective on updating the U.S. national strategy for financial literacy. The letter underscores the critical role banks play in advancing financial capability nationwide and offers recommendations to strengthen public private collaboration, modernize financial education and better protect consumers from fraud and scams.

The submission comes during April's Financial Literacy Month, a timely reminder of the need to ensure Americans have the knowledge and tools they need to navigate an increasingly challenging financial landscape. In its letter, the ABA Foundation highlights banks' unique position as trusted, community based partners that deliver financial education at scale through schools, workplaces, community organizations and digital platforms.

"We appreciate Secretary Bessent and the Treasury Department's focus on this critical challenge and the opportunity to share our perspective on national strategies for financial literacy," said Lindsay Torrico, executive director of the ABA Foundation. "As Financial Literacy Month reminds us, helping people build financial skills, resilience and confidence is important to the economy. Banks are deeply embedded in their communities and are uniquely positioned to support a modern, coordinated national strategy that meets people where they are."

The ABA Foundation's recommendations to Treasury and Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC) emphasize the need to:

• Strengthen public private partnerships to deliver consistent, high quality financial education at scale;
• Modernize financial literacy to address today's economic realities;
• Support financial counseling as a critical lever for financial stability;
• Promote youth investment accounts and early wealth building tools;
• Elevate scam and fraud prevention as a core pillar of consumer protection; and
• Educate consumers on emerging financial products, services and technologies.

For more than a century, the ABA Foundation has worked with banks, nonprofits and government partners to advance financial education. The Foundation's financial education initiatives have reached millions of people through its banker presentations. Current Foundation programs include:

• Teach Children to Save
• Lights, Camera, Save!
• Get Smart About Credit
• Safe Banking for Seniors

In the past three years alone, ABA Foundation programs have helped more than 1,300 banks and 110,000 bank volunteers reach over 6 million people nationwide. Participation in all of the ABA Foundation programs is available free of charge to ABA member banks and non-member banks.

Click here to view the full comment letter.

###

About the American Bankers Association

The American Bankers Association is the voice of the nation's $25.3 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that together employ over 2 million people, safeguard $20.1 trillion in deposits and extend $13.5 trillion in loans.

About the ABA Foundation

Through its leadership, partnerships, and national programs, ABA's Community Engagement Foundation (dba ABA Foundation), a 501(c)3, helps bankers provide financial education to individuals at every age, elevate issues around affordable housing and community development, and achieve corporate social responsibility objectives to improve the well-being of their customers and their communities.