HERMON, Maine (WABI) – Hermon High School Seniors taught fourth graders the basics of finance.

“We’re reading a book, and it talks about things you can spend with a dollar, things you can spend with $10, and it’s like penny candy or balloons. So, in our presentation, it talks about how you can either save your money or you can buy something, you want to spend or save it up for something important, or you can spend your dollar and buy 25 pieces of penny candy, or like it kind of just shows an example within our presentation of real-life situations,” said Saige Lang, Senior, Hermon High School.

The aim was to have the kids leave with a grasp of the value of money.

“They don’t have the physical cash. They might get a check from somebody that’s older, but they don’t see their parents using cash. So many people don’t spend with cash now. So, it’s so important that they know the value of cash, and, you know, you swipe it, it still is your money being spent,” explained Hermon High School Career Prep Teacher, Margie Deabay.

They say it’s important to teach the subject at an early age.

“It’s important because it’s good to teach kids young. It’s good to start them out young so they can start picking it up as it goes on. It’s better to, I feel like it’s better to learn young than it is now, like as a senior in high school.”

“If we wait until high school, I don’t want to say it’s too late, but it is kind of to get all the kids come to high school and they are so used to swiping cards, it’s so important for them to learn at an early age. That you know the value of money.”

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PETALING JAYA: The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, paving the way for greater cooperation in Islamic capital market (ICM) and broadening the reach of Islamic fintech and social finance, particularly waqf.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and IsDB president and chairman Dr Muhammad Al Jasser, witnessed the signing of the landmark MoU, the first-of-its-kind between the Malaysian capital market regulator and the premier multilateral development bank of the Global South.

The SC chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek Hussin and IsDB vice president, finance and chief financial officer, Dr Zamir Iqbal signed the MoU on the sidelines of the IsDB Annual General Meeting 2024 in Riyadh.

Anwar and Muhammad Al Jasser, in their meeting in March 2023, had agreed that regulators, authorities and businesses in Malaysia to work closely with IsDB to explore new areas of collaboration. These include developing and piloting innovative Islamic finance products, promoting the halal industry, and supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Under the MoU signed this morning, both the SC and IsDB will collaborate in several key areas. These include facilitating innovation in Islamic fintech, promoting development of Islamic social finance, and encouraging inflow of investments, among others.

It also aims to increase capacity building, knowledge sharing and joint technical projects in key interest areas related to ICM, which can also be capitalised by both institutions for the benefit of other IsDB member countries.

Awang Adek said the synergistic collaboration marked a historic milestone for the SC and IsDB.

“We now intend to broaden and deepen Islamic fintech state of play via scalability and new markets as well as amplify opportunities through social finance including development of waqf assets, by using our respective capital markets and financial development expertise,” he added.

Through greater collaboration, he said both parties can also develop and scale up the MSMEs, in support of their aspirations.

Muhammad Al Jasser said, “Under this MoU, the Securities Commission Malaysia and IsDB will collaborate to enhance Islamic fintech, social finance, and attract foreign investment in private markets. This will enhance the Islamic capital markets not only in Malaysia but also across IsDB Member Countries. This partnership prioritises support for MSMEs and private markets, which are crucial for economic empowerment.”

Awang Adek added that this MoU is also in line with the key strategic initiatives for the Malaysian ICM under the Capital Market Master Plan 3 (2021 – 2025), including expanding the reach of ICM to the broader stakeholders of the economy and embracing collaboration and innovation for growth.

To that end, the SC together with its affiliate, Capital Markets Malaysia recently engaged with various stakeholders in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh. This includes lending Malaysia’s voice to reinforcing ICM’s impact and enhancing Malaysia’s global thought leadership.

In several panel sessions in the region, the SC’s executive director of Islamic Capital Market, Sharifatul Hanizah Said Ali spoke about how ICM can be harnessed to structure innovative financing instruments to further advance social impact investing, sukuk issuances and Islamic asset management.

In 2023, the Malaysian ICM grew 4.5% to RM2.4 trillion while sukuk outstanding rose by 7.4% and Shariah-compliant equities by 1.5%.

Malaysia remains the global leader in ICM, particularly in sukuk outstanding as well as Islamic fund management, securing top rankings in global indices including Islamic Fintech Index, the Global Islamic Economy Indicator and the global Islamic Finance Development Indicator for the 10th consecutive year.