On March 24 Guillaume Prache, Managing Director at BETTER FINANCE, spoke at the EFAMA Conference on “The Future of Financial and Investor Education in Europe” on the role of the European institutions and the finance industry in promoting financial education. With the aim of developing new common objectives and policy priorities, the conference provided a substantial debate with high-level speakers and panelists such as Mario Nava, Director of the Financial Institution Directorate at the European Commission’s DG MARKT and Joost van Iersel, President of the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion, at the European Economic and Social Committee.
Mr Prache also contributed an article to the EFAMA Report on Investor Education. In his article entitled “The Fall of Financial Literacy”, Prache highlights that there are two opportunities in life where people can get financial education: in school and at the point of sale.
However, he points out that financial education has substantially lost its importance in school curricula in recent decades. This is unfortunate because the trend to defined-contribution pension schemes away from “pay-as-you-go” pension systems justifies more than ever empowering citizens to make decisions well-suited to their financial circumstances.
Prache also regrets that too often policymakers are no longer able to understand the respective importance of bonds and stocks in the financing of the economy. Against this background, he confirms asset managers together with distributors and advisors have a crucial role to play to educate their clients about the basics of capital markets and saving.
He also suggests that the low level of financial literacy justifies promoting a range of simple financial products that can be easily understood by European citizens.
Please read here Guillaume Prache's article.