The Institute of Financial Studies (ISF) joined, for the ninth consecutive year, the initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and organized, during the Global Money Week – GMW (20-26 March 2023), a series of financial education programs and actions aimed at the academic environment, the business environment, pupils, and students.
The programs carried out by ISF aimed to increase the level of financial education both at the level of teachers and at the level of pupils and students, by facilitating access for children and young people to concepts and information regarding financial markets.
The most important event during the GMW 2023 week was the organization of the seventh edition of the European Conference on Financial Services ECFS 2023 - “European Reforms for Sustainability and the Green Transition in the Financial Sector”. The event took place in Brașov, in a hybrid format. This year’s proceedings generated debates regarding financial stability, financial education, and resilience, ESG scores, as well as the application of the latest legislative developments. Economists, professors, and representatives of the business environment met to determine the best way to overcome current crises and presented the economic and managerial perspective of realities in the financial field.
The conference was divided into several panels. One panel was dedicated to debates, one panel to financial education, and one to professional training, with participants largely being representatives from the professional environment and non-banking financial markets. Also, four academic panels were organized where university teaching staff, doctoral students, from the country and abroad presented scientific research papers. Approximately 140 people participated in the conference.
A novelty this year was the organization, together with the Financial Supervisory Authority, of the financial education program “White Night of Universities”, an event aimed at students in Bucharest, as well as pupils in the 11th and 12th grades. Approximately 1500 participants were present at the sessions organized by the ISF and A.S.F. within the “White Night of Universities”, where among the guests were personalities from business, sports, media, and the academic environment, such as: Marian Alecu - entrepreneur, Răzvan Exarhu - journalist, producer, and radio and TV presenter, Adrian Sasu - general manager Alezzi Yacht, co-founder Square Music, Ionuț Datcu - managing partner WOPA and film producer, Adrian Măniuțiu - entrepreneur EM360 Group, Cristian Movilă - visual artist - The New York Times, Virgil Stănescu - president Sports Hub, Costin Dămășaru - dr. drd. psych. - founder and general director Veruvius, Mihai Purcărea - CEO BRD Asset Management, Florin Ilie - Vice-President ING Bank, Viorica Păcurar - Retail Sales Director NN Asigurări de Viață, Oana Botolan - managing partner CTeam România, Dan Trifu - drd., CFA, MBA - Partner and Director in Romania at Rix Group AG, Cosmin Joldeș - prof. univ. dr., trainer, explorer, Lucian Botea - prof. univ. dr., Răzvan Dobrescu - prof. univ. dr., and Rareș Cristian Bișag - Founder, President, and General Director of ROSPIN.
The guests sought through their experiences to help young people turn their passions into businesses or careers.
The main actions organized by ISF under the aegis of GMW 2023 were:
- 14 Start2Learn: Personal Finance sessions - a national financial education program, aimed at high school pupils. Over 290 children learned the basic concepts they need to start planning their own financial goals, the foundation of a healthy financial life.
- 2 SmartFIN@ISF sessions - Vocational Training Seminars. This aims to improve the skills and knowledge of students, future consumers of financial services (at the end of their studies), but also potential employees in financial markets (insurance, banks, private pensions, investments).
- 6 FinTTT sessions - Training of teaching staff from pre-university education in the non-banking financial field.
- 1 IMM Hub meeting, a program organized together with the A.S.F. and dedicated to the entrepreneurial environment, an interactive platform for consulting entrepreneurs regarding the difficulties they face, as well as presenting concrete solutions offered by non-banking financial markets.
- 2 Insurance Academy sessions - a professional specialization program dedicated to students, consisting of a series of training modules delivered by specialists in the field of insurance.
Global Money Week is an international event held under the patronage of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), during which entire communities join efforts to promote better knowledge of the financial environment and to provide young people with the tools and inspiration needed to shape their own future. This initiative brings together organizations from nearly 170 countries and involves annually over 40 million children and young people.
“Plan your money, plant your future”, the official theme of GMW2023, aimed to raise awareness about the importance of adopting a responsible, informed, and future-oriented approach in making financial decisions. Future individual financial well-being is closely linked to the health of the planet and society as a whole.
ISF will continue to carry out and develop in the future educational programs that contribute to increasing the level of financial education of the population.
