At the Money Matters conference in Brussels on Tuesday 20 February, Maria Demertzis, an economist from the Bruegel think-tank, presented the findings of a European Commission barometer on the level of financial education among EU citizens in 2023.
If they lost their main source of income, 44% of EU citizens believe that their means of subsistence would only allow them to last a maximum of 3 months without taking out a loan and without changing their accommodation. In addition, 57% of Europeans are not confident about their ability to live comfortably in retirement.
Organised by the European Commission, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council and the Wikifin Lab financial education centre, the conference focused on the importance of enhanced financial education as a source of resilience and inclusion for Europeans, according to the speakers.
“We lived through the financial crisis. We saw what happened to families and society. We don’t want to repeat those mistakes, and we shouldn’t, because we now are better equipped and have better knowledge around this policy area”, said Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.
“Your health is your wealth, and your wealth is your health. And too often, people who have difficulties around finance are ill.(...) Those who are financially literate are also more resilient. They are more likely to have built up savings in the case of an unexpected expense. And so having more financially literate individuals means a more resilient society”, she added.
FSMA Chairman Jean-Paul Servais emphasised the authority’s role in financial education, pointing out, for example, the importance, in his view, of having simplified the reporting standards provided for in the revision of the Listing Act (see EUROPE 13341/8). “Our mission of financial education is complementary to supervision”, he said.
The experts continued their discussions, notably on the digitalisation of the financial sector. With this in mind, Ms Demertzis called on the EU to step up research into digital financial services. She also praised the work undertaken: “Only EU countries are in the process of developing a financial education strategy”, she concluded.
For his part, the Belgian finance minister, Vincent Van Peteghem, stressed the importance of a financial culture for the Capital Markets Union in the EU. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)