Conference on Financial Literacy and Consumer Protection was co-organized in Hanoi on April 3-4, 2017 by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI).
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong takes photo with participants
The Conference was under co-chairmanship of SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong; Mr. Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean of the ADBI; Mr. Andres Laboul, Director of OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs. Attending the conference were international and regional policy-makers, specialists and researchers.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong emphasized that financial literacy and consumer protection are main components of Vietnam’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy and the basis for a success in the implementation of the Strategy. She also said: “Recently, the SBV has been coordinating with Vietnam Television to broadcast weekly program titled “Smart Kids”. The program is specialized in educating finance for children aged from 5-15. Moreover, Vietnam cooperating with several international partners is gradually applying financial literacy to subjects at schools”.
In addition, the SBV Deputy Governor asserted that in order to enhance financial cooperation among APEC economies, the SBV as leading financial entity in Vietnam, in the recent time, has been closely coordinating with international partners and APEC member countries to implement cooperative substances, including financial literacy and consumer protection, with the main theme of “Rural and Agriculture Finance Sustainable Development”. The cooperative substances are meaningful for developing member countries like Vietnam, which is initially getting access to and implementing inclusive finance; at the same time, they are opportunities for other countries and international organizations to research and discuss, then making recommendations to more sustainable inclusive finance, contributing to narrowing the gap among regional economies.
The two day conference focused on (1) Identifying demand for financial education – Assessing efficiency of financial education in Vietnam; (2) Identifying methods of protecting financial consumers in Vietnam and Southeast Asia; (3) Sharing experience in formulating national financial literacy strategy; (4) Assessing financial education program – Australian financial education development agency; (5) Financial literacy for teens; (6) Financial literacy for micro, small and medium enterprises; (7) Financial literacy for micro insurance.
At the conference, participants discussed and shared their experience in improving awareness and formulating mechanism for preventing financial risks. Making agreements with ideas and experience in formulating financial education programs, ADBI Dean Naoyuki Yoshino recomended the Ministry of Education to participate in financial education programs and the application of financial literacy to course books at schools is very necessary. Financial literacy is not only important at schools but also meaningful for their adult life. Besides, financial literacy is of great importance for small and medium enterprises.
Mr. Andres Laboul, Director of OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, acknowledged that financial literacy and consumer protection are priorities of APEC. Therefore, he said: “We need to identify and assess the demand as well as challenges to form effective strategy with the aim of appropriately approaching to financial literacy and consumer protection. We also need to ensure the effective implementation when formulating financial education programs”.
Le Hang