09.12.2008

The First Annual Financial Literacy Conference

The First Annual Financial Literacy Conference took place on 9 December 2008 and was attended by over 100 people from business, government, media, academia and the NGO community.

The conference was aimed to promote a dialogue between the government, financial institutions, mass media and the civil society on issues related to the teaching of personal finance skills; expose participants to Russian and international experiences in the advancement of financial literacy; and develop a common strategy for all the stakeholders.

Discussion at the conference focused on:

• the economy-wide impact of financial literacy;
• results of the financial literacy survey;
• the role of the government, business and mass media in promoting financial literacy;
• effective ways of providing financial education to school students and post-school youth.

The conference brought together officials from the RF Ministry of Finance and other regulatory bodies, legislators, Russian financial market participants including banks, non-state pension funds, managing, financial and insurance companies, as well as representatives of the World Bank and other international organisations, leading media and educational institutions, business associations, and representatives of pilot regions. A delegation from Kazakhstan made the Russian audience quite envious about the degree of commitment to financial literacy by the Kazakh Government.

The conference received a very positive response from the participants and helped to push interest and knowledge in the subject to a new level. It also helped to create a very strong community of people interested in the subject.

General partner of the conference was ZAO KB Citibank.

Financial Literacy Programme
ABC of Finance