On September 30, International Conference “Financial Education – Challenges and Prospects” was held at “Holiday Inn” hotel; the conference was organized by the National Bank of Georgia and was supported by the Foundation of German Deposit Banks. 

Giorgi Kadagidze, President of the National Bank of Georgia, opened the conference: 

“Financial education is one of the serious global challenges and this issue is problematic for Georgia as well, as proper planning of own budget and finances is of critical importance for medium and low income population. Studies show direct link between the level of financial education and public debt burden. Citizens with low financial education are usually characterized by “expensive” behavior, i.e. when they use specific financial service or purchase a product, they make uninformed and therefore – “expensive” decisions. In line with identification of the problems, the aim of today’s conference is pinpointing the measures, which are daily responsibility –moreover - obligation of every institute dealing with financial education. Taking care of this issue is within the interest of financial sector, economy and the country” – said Giorgi Kadagidze, President of the National Bank. 

The aim of the conference is to allow sharing of visions of different stakeholders on the issue of financial education. During the meeting the attendants discussed negative effect of poor financial education on consumer welfare, and ultimately its possible impact on financial institutions. The discussion was held on the issues such as: measures for improving the low level of financial education; the role of stakeholders; their responsibility; etc. 

Sean Mund and Anja Deinzer – international experts from UK and Germany – shared their experience with the attendants of the conference. Sean Mund informed the attendants about the international experience on measures for improving financial education. Anja Deinzer spoke about the experience of German Deposit Banks.   

The conference was attended by the representatives from: commercial banks, Association of Georgian Banks, the Association of Development and Support of Microfinancial Institutions, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, as well as international financial institutions, Non-Government organizations and independent experts.