Financial education

„If a country aims to make its voice heard across Europe, it will succeed neither by industry, nor trade, but through education alone”

Mihail Kogălniceanu

The importance of financial education has increased over the past two decades as innovation and globalisation have rendered financial services more diverse and sophisticated. These developments create novel responsibilities for the authorities, which must ensure that both the economy and the society are adequately prepared to meet the new challenges.

In 2018, the Ministry of National Education, the National Bank of Romania, the Ministry of Public Finance, the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Romanian Association of Banks signed a Cooperation Protocol for jointly conducting financial education activities and mapping out the National Financial Education Strategy. The document sets forth an inter-institutional framework whereby the five entities carry out jointly financial education activities.

The National Bank of Romania envisages helping primary, secondary, high school, and university students as well as adults acquire financial education, broaden and deepen their financial literacy. The financial education activity is also supported countrywide by the central bank’s branches and agencies.

Financial Education Week

From 3 to 6 April 2023, the National Bank of Romania organised the Financial Education Week, a project aiming to emphasise the importance of raising the level of financial education and awareness among the youth in order to manage money properly.

The NBR lecturers interacted with approximately 500 classes of students from over 200 educational establishments – primary, secondary, and high schools in Bucharest and countrywide.

The National Financial Education Lesson

The National Bank of Romania, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the County School Inspectorates, hosted on 18 October 2022 a National Financial Education Lesson aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of financial education among students.

The event was opened by the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mr. Mugur Isărescu, who welcomed over 50 eighth graders from Bucharest, together with their teachers, at the central bank head office. For one hour, they had the opportunity to discuss with the Governor the history of money and banks. On the same day, the financial education teams from all the NBR branches and agencies throughout the country interacted with students and teachers from several counties in a project that involved over 136,000 participants.