This presentation by Chiara Monticone was made during the 1st roundtable at the High-level Conference on Global and European Trends in Financial Education held on 22-23 May 2014 in Istanbul, which explored the role(s) of the private and not-for-profit sectors in financial education, financial literacy and innovation for young people and financial education for migrant workers and their families. Find out more at http://www.oecd.org/daf/fin/financial-education/2014-conference-global-european-trends-financial-education.htm

1. FINANCIAL EDUCATION
IN EUROPE:
AN OVERVIEW
Chiara Monticone
OECD
High-level conference on global and European trends in
financial education
22-23 May 2014 - Istanbul, Turkey

2. Rationale:
why financial
education in
Europe
The current
status
Challenges
and future
directions
Outline

3. • Survey on financial education in Europe
– It covers financial education and to some
extent also financial consumer protection and
financial inclusion
– Will be published in the course of 2014
– Supported by VISA Europe
 all European countries are still welcome
to contribute
Report on financial education in Europe

4. RATIONALE

5. • Most European countries underwent
several pension reforms starting from the
early 1990s aimed at improving financial
sustainability of social security systems:
– Lower replacement rates for future
generations
– Greater reliance on private pension provision
to improve adequacy
Pension reforms

6. Household indebtedness
Italy
Germany
France
United States
United
Kingdom
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Household liabilities as a % of household nominal
disposable income
Declining but still very
high in the UK
Lower but increasing
in other countries like
Italy and France
Source: OECD Economic Outlook No. 94

7. Financial exclusion
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
ARM
MDA
ALB
UKR
KSV
ROM
RUS
MNE
BGR
BIH
TUR
BLR
SRB
POL
ITA
HUN
MKD
LTU
GRC
SVK
CZE
PRT
CYP
HRV
LVA
ESP
IRL
LUX
BEL
EST
FRA
AUT
SVN
GBR
DEU
NLD
SWE
FIN
DNK
All population Bottom 40% of income Top 60% of income
Relatively lower levels
and large variation
across the population
Percentage of adults population (15+) with an account at a financial
institution (including bank, credit union, cooperative, microfinance
institution, post office, debit card)
Source: Global Findex
Close to 100%

8. A complement to financial consumer
protection and regulation
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
IRL
BEL
ESP
PRT
NLD
SVN
GBR
HUN
DNK
AUT
GRC
SWE
CHE
DEU
FRA
POL
ITA
FIN
ISR
EST
TUR
CZE
LUX
SVK
NOR
ISL
Source: OECD (2014), Society at a Glance
Percentage points variation in confidence in
financial institutions between 2007 and 2012

9. … in a context of low financial literacy
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Albania2010
Armenia2010
CzechRepublic2010
Estonia2010
Germany2010
Hungary2010
Ireland2010
Norway2010
Poland2010
Serbia2012
UnitedKingdom2010
On average in these European countries,
less than 70% of the adult population can
answer correctly eight financial
knowledge questions
16% of UK adults shop around for
financial products. This is even lower in
other countries.
About 20% of Estonians resorted to
borrowing the last time their income
fell short of their expenditure
About half of Albanians disagree that
money is there to be spent, but only
12% of Polish respondents
Source: OECD/INFE financial literacy survey
Average percentage of adult population in each
country answering correctly eight financial
knowledge questions

10. POLICY RESPONSES

11. A NS is a nationally coordinated approach to financial education
which consists of an adapted framework or programme that:
• Recognises the importance of financial education and defines its meaning and
scope at the national level in relation to identified national needs and gaps;
• Involves the co-operation of different stakeholders as well as the
identification of a national leader or coordinating body/council;
• Establishes a roadmap to achieve specific and predetermined objectives within a
set period of time; and,
• Provides guidance to be applied by individual programmes in order to efficiently
and appropriately contribute to the NS.
Around the world: 28 countries are designing/ developing
their NS, 18 are implementing it, and 8 are revising their
first NS or implementing a second revised one
Of these countries, one third is in Europe
National strategies
for financial education

12. National strategies for
financial education in Europe
Feb
2012
May
2014

13. Aims of national strategies
The overarching purpose of all these NSs is to strengthen financial
literacy and promote positive financial behaviours, with a focus on:
Reducing
over-
indebted-
ness
e.g., Croatia,
Estonia, Latvia,
Netherlands,
Portugal, Serbia,
Turkey, United
Kingdom
Improving
long-term
saving
e.g., Croatia,
Netherlands,
Portugal, Serbia,
Spain, Turkey
Improving
financial
inclusion
e.g., Croatia,
Estonia, Latvia,
Portugal,
Romania, Turkey
Raising
awareness
of
consumers’
rights
e.g., Poland
Supporting
pension
reforms
e.g., Latvia, UK

14. Coordination mechanisms between
finance/education public authorities, private sector
and non-profits are in place in most countries
Private sector involvement: Certification systems /
codes of conduct / principles (e.g., Czech Republic,
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) – voluntary but
linked to official recognition of programmes within
the NS
Stakeholders

15. Women
Turkey
Migrants
Portugal
and Spain
Elderly people
Portugal, Romania,
Spain, Turkey,
United Kingdom
Low-income groups
Latvia, Portugal,
Romania, Russian
Federation, Turkey
Young people
Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia,
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Russian Federation,
Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Turkey, United Kingdom
SMEs
Romania, Serbia,
Turkey
Others
Pre-retirement,
disabled, etc.
Main target groups

16. Provision of financial education in schools is uneven
and limited (up to schools/teachers, little professional
development, no examinations), but growing
National
standards /
Learning
frameworks
(e.g. the Czech
Republic, the
Netherlands, the
Slovak Republic)
Integrated in
school curriculum
in another subject
(e.g., England
and Spain)
Pilot projects in
limited number of
schools before
scaling up (e.g.,
Italy and Spain)
Financial education in schools

17. Coordination
stakeholders’ coordination for the
development and implementation of
NSs is usually in place, but the
involvement of private and not-for-
profit sectors can require additional
specific monitoring/ compliance
mechanisms
Evaluation
most countries monitor the
implementation of their NS but only
few evaluate its impact
(or parts of it)
Innovation
how to incorporate new
technologies and ideas from other
fields to reach and engage particular
groups
Core competencies
the development of learning
outcomes / core competencies
frameworks is an important step not
only for developing FE in schools
but also for adults
Challenges and way forward

18. THANK YOU!
Questions and feedback welcome
Chiara.Monticone@oecd.org
OECD/INFE www.financial–education.org