In his opening remarks the moderator, Senior Economist of Financial Market Strategic Department, Chairman of Youth Council of the Bank of Russia David Monastyrsky emphasized the importance of financial literacy as the foundation of consumer confidence in the financial market. In addition, he noted the priority of studying financial literacy specifically for young professionals who are starting to receive serious money as a salary and often do not have the skills to save and invest.
Anastasia Bednova, head of Financial Literacy working group of the Coordinating Council for the Development of Young Professionals Communities at the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, noted the importance of personal initiative of young people to promote financial literacy, and also shared her experience in implementing projects within the framework of the Bank of Russia Youth Council.
The head of the Service for Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion of the Bank of Russia Mikhail Mamuta spoke with the audience about investment literacy. In his speech he underlined the importance of knowledge to purchase financial services without imposing from the part of misconducted sellers, and shared advices for current and future investors.
Emphasizing the importance of volunteer initiative, Mamuta passed the floor to director of the Association for the Development of Financial Literacy Veniamin Kaganov. The head of the largest public organization for promotion of financial literacy, he noted the relevance of this topic and invited everybody to participate in the Congress of financial education volunteers scheduled for the end of June.
Rusquality, the largest quality assessment organization in Russia, is also showing great interest in financial literacy. Yulia Mikhaleva, Deputy Head, spoke about the digital expertise centers that are created, as well as the upcoming launch of a digital literacy assessment project jointly with the Bank of Russia.
The session attracted huge interest among expert community, with remarks emphasizing the importance of synergy between all actors of financial literacy by Sergei Trukhachev, Deputy Dean for Development of the Economics Faculty of Moscow State University, and Olga Golyshenkova, President of the Association of Citizens and Organizations to Promote the Development of Corporate Education "MAKO".
Financial literacy promotion is relevant around the whole world. Representative of the SPIEF guest country Muneera Ameer Al Baker spoke about her country's experience in this field and her activities as Youth Affairs Advocate in the "Education above all" fund.
Summarizing the results of the discussion, David Monastyrsky noted the importance of financial, digital and investment literacy promotion both from the part of authorities and public organizations. Moreover, he noted the activity and prompt exchange of views between the speakers. In addition, on the discussion basis the speakers considered necessary to prepare three MoUs that will help to realize the main goal of the discussion - promoting all types of literacy among young professionals.
