Banks and Financial Literacy Enhancement in Zimbabwe

Financial literacy has become a topical issue in recent years. This paper seeks to summarize the growing efforts of financial literacy field in Zimbabwe, with special reference to banks. Financial literacy should be a concern to the government especially the Central Bank, Commercial Banks, other financial institutions and even to the common trader in the country. The paper is a policy prescription with implications for the policy makers in identifying the increased financial awareness need and thereby developing suitable financial literacy programs. The study used an electronic survey approach through Monkey Survey to determine the extent to which banks are promoting financial literacy in the country. 104 responses have been obtained for an 8 day platform on social networks; facebook, whatsapp, LinkedIn and email. Through its findings the study found that there is little effort exerted by banks to attract funds in remote areas, the information about financial products is not clear to the users for their independent decision, banks are never competing for the unbanked sector. The study suggested various ways that banks and government can undertake to improve literacy and hence economic development in the economy