“The economy is currently on a dynamic path. At the current historical juncture, the world, Europe and Greece are facing an unprecedented uncertainty, a multitude of challenges and a multitude of important opportunities,” said, among others, the Governor of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras, welcoming the opening of the “@Xaxis Workshop”, which is being held at the premises of the BoG and aims to form a network for the broad dissemination of digital financial literacy.

He said that the Bank of Greece, looking towards a future that will not always be predictable, has undertaken actions that focus on cultivating financial literacy as an essential skill and a source of security and stability. It is continuing even more dynamically with the integration of digital financial literacy in education and its cultivation as a lifelong objective. “In a world overwhelmed by over-information, fragmentation, disconnected information and fake news, clarity of knowledge is power. But strength is also the creative use of knowledge so that it has practical application and is flexible in absorbing contemporary developments. We need to focus on learning that can link technical knowledge with a system of thinking that has a plan and a vision,” he stressed.

In this context, from November 2022, the Bank of Greece has assumed the role of national coordinator of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Global Money Week initiative. This is an annual, global awareness campaign, which aims to highlight the importance of financial education for young people. The next event is planned for March next year.

“Nowadays, financial education, like education in general, is not only about specialization and academic studies, as it used to be perhaps, but also about lifelong learning. In parallel, therefore, with the shift to financial knowledge, the Bank is also transforming the ways in which it is transmitted, in tune also with changes in the very mentality of learning. In the era of artificial intelligence, when structural changes in our work ethics are foreseen, digital financial literacy is not only for economists, bankers, academics, but for every citizen who needs self-education and development,” he said.

Full speech of G. Stournaras’ speech

“I welcome you to the country’s central bank, and I welcome this initiative, which is being carried out under the auspices of the Bank of Greece, and aims to form a network of wide dissemination of digital financial literacy. The Bank of Greece is always positive to constructive synergies and has proven this in many ways. It is even more positive when the collaborations acquire a collective character and are linked to one of its main objectives: our financial literacy.

I am very pleased that the “@xia Work Meeting” is being held in the premises of the Bank itself, an institution that ensures price stability and the proper functioning of the financial system, so that we can live in conditions of social well-being. As an institution exercising a public function, the Bank sees financial education not as the exclusive prerogative of those who specialise in finance, but primarily as a public good. For several years now, the Bank of Greece has been focusing on the education of citizens and especially the citizens of the future, the younger generations. Because it is true that financial awareness is cultivated from a very early age. Financial experience begins from the moment we are asked to think about what to do with the coin or banknote we have in our hands, and later our debit and/or credit card. The moment we are called upon to make financial decisions about how to manage whatever financial resources we have.

The Bank’s Centre for Culture, Research and Documentation has published financial literacy books for all levels of education, as well as guides for teachers – publications adapted to the language of our time. It has also developed supporting information material (covering in more detail the topics of payments, inflation, the economy and climate, the euro, etc.), which accompanies a variety of Bank activities in Athens and in the region. The Bank makes an active contribution to financial education through its training lectures, the museum’s educational programmes and the organisation of exhibitions in its museum, and through its support for related activities of other important institutions. The educational material it produces is always available online to the general public.

At the same time, the Communication Unit of the Bank of Greece is implementing a specially designed financial education website, where all the Bank’s actions and a wealth of further educational material will be freely accessible and collected by target group.

Many of you already know that, as of November 2022, the Bank of Greece has assumed the role of national coordinator of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Global Money Week initiative. This is an annual, global awareness campaign, which aims to highlight the importance of financial education for young people. The next event is planned for March next year and I would like to take the opportunity of our meeting to invite you to contribute to our joint effort by organizing relevant activities.

Informing and raising awareness of population groups regarding very critical issues such as cases of smart (now) electronic financial fraud, misleading trade and false investment opportunities, is also achieved through workshops or meetings addressed to the public and dealing with the current typology of fraud cases, as well as ways of avoiding it. Campaigns on related topics have been very popular, both on TV and in social networks (such as the campaign “Cryptocurrencies: The best investment is information” and “If you fall for it… you’re screwed”).

Nowadays, financial literacy, like education in general, is not only about specialization and academic studies, as perhaps in the past, but also about lifelong learning. In parallel, therefore, with the shift to financial knowledge, the Bank is also transforming the ways in which it is transmitted, in tune also with changes in the very mentality of learning. In the age of artificial intelligence, when structural changes in our work ethics are foreseen, digital financial literacy is not only for economists, bankers, academics, but for every citizen who needs self-education and development.

The role of economists, academics, analysts, policy advisors, technocrats, with direct or indirect participation in decision making, thus becomes more necessary than ever to support the social needs of the country. As the gap of social inequality widens, I would say – both as Governor of the Bank of Greece and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Athens, but mainly as a human being – that digital financial literacy, in the period of the fourth industrial revolution, is not only a public good, but also a public need.

What is needed, therefore, is the coordinated contribution of top-level institutions, focusing on heterogeneous population categories from different transmitters and spaces, so that the cultivation of financial literacy becomes a life skill for all and for all, especially for vulnerable social groups. The financial literacy that we as the Bank of Greece advocate is linked to a deeper understanding of how what happens and will happen at the macroeconomic level will affect the financial and other fundamental decisions of young people and adults, consumers and borrowers.

In a world overwhelmed by over-information, fragmentation, disconnected information and fake news, clarity of knowledge is power. But strength is also the creative use of knowledge so that it has practical application and is flexible in absorbing modern developments. We need to focus on learning that can link technical knowledge with a system of thought that has a plan and a vision. Without this approach to learning, our society risks being divided between those who understand and those who simply watch their lives change radically. Financial literacy primarily engages the citizen’s ability to stand critically, responsibly and confidently in the face of the wave of information, technology and economic challenges that are emerging.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The economy is currently on a dynamic path: At the current historical juncture, the world, Europe and Greece are facing unprecedented uncertainty, a multitude of challenges and a multitude of significant opportunities. Climate change, energy and financial crises, rapid, exponential technological development – from artificial intelligence to the creation of digital cryptocurrencies and stable cryptocurrencies -, the radical overthrow of the rules of free trade and geopolitical conflicts unprecedented in the post-war period, all form the context of this new era.

Listening to the enormous and structural changes we are experiencing, and looking towards a future that will not always be predictable, the Bank of Greece has so far undertaken actions that focus on cultivating financial literacy as an essential skill and a source of security and stability. It is continuing even more dynamically with the integration of digital financial literacy in education and its cultivation as a lifelong objective. The Bank of Greece will continue to actively support financial literacy and vigilance initiatives at the national level for the development of a national strategy, for which it is already working intensively.”