China overtakes HK with most proficient investors in As Pac

MANILA, Philippines - New Zealanders have the best basic money management skills in the Asia Pacific region, but the Chinese have shown themselves to be the most proficient investors, according to MasterCard’s latest research.

The MasterCard Index of Financial Literacy is based on a survey conducted between April 2013 and May 2013 with 7756 respondents aged 18 -64 in 16 Asia Pacific  markets. This is the 4th survey of Financial Literacy conducted since 2010. The survey polled consumers on three aspects of financial literacy including their basic money management skills, investment knowledge  and financial planning to determine the level of basic money management skills in terms of budgeting, savings, and responsibility of credit usage. The survey and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance.

On overall financial literacy, New Zealand continued to rank number one with a score of 74 index points, ahead of Singapore (72 index points) and Taiwan (71 index points). Indonesia came third from bottom of the region dropping seven places to 14th with 60 index points, with India and Japan at the bottom with 59 index points and 57 index points respectively.

New Zealanders also came top in overall basic money management (77 index points), which includes skills such as day-to-day budgeting, keeping up with bills, credit commitments and setting money aside for big purchases, just ahead of Australia (75 index points) and Singapore (73 index points). In contrast, respondents from Myanmar and India were the least literate in terms of basic money management, both scoring 54 index points.