The winners of the financial education contest "Ideas for the Future", announced in an online conference organized by the Institute of Financial Studies
BUCHAREST, 29.04.2021- The Institute of Financial Studies (ISF) organized the event "Ideas for the Future for Young Generations", which aims to identify and enhance the best tools to promote financial education. During the event, held online, the three winning projects of the "Future Ideas" contest were presented, and professionals from the non-banking financial market and from ISF, together with teachers and students, discussed important topics for the future of the Romanian economy.
The initiative represents only a small part of the efforts that ISF makes to increase the degree of financial education among Romanians, lately being organized, in collaboration with prestigious universities and professional associations, numerous online conferences and specialized seminars, where about 2,000 students participated.
"Consumers need to fully understand both the benefits and the risks that come with an investment. Precisely for this purpose, the ISF and the Financial Supervision Authority have jointly built a range of financial education courses for students, but also for the general public. It is essential that young people and children understand the basics, mechanisms and operating principles of financial markets, so that they can form a solid foundation in time to move on to the next level, where appropriate. ISF therefore aims to become an integrator of financial education initiatives in the non-banking financial sector. Regarding the perspective, in 2021, ISF organizes some important financial education events, and I would like to mention only two: thematic sessions within student communication sessions from at least three partner universities and the organization of vocational sessions and seminars, SmartFIN ISF, in physical or online format. The events organized together with the ISF member associations meet the needs of the students in terms of the level of training as future employees. In the academic year 2020-2021, 30 such sessions were organized in 14 universities, attended by about 2,000 students ", said Ovidiu Petru, Vice President of ISF.
The explanation of the success enjoyed by the projects, considers prof. Univ.dr. Marian Siminică, Executive Director of ISF, consists both in the opening of the partner universities, which promoted the ISF initiatives and provided a favorable framework for their development, as well as the support offered by professional associations and the Financial Supervisory Authority. With their help, the Institute of Financial Studies also organized the contest to promote financial education by "Ideas for the Future" students, in which 25 teams from 12 university centers entered.
The three winning projects were announced during the "Ideas for the Future for the Young Generations" event:
- Saving and investing on the capital market, a project developed by the team of Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad
- Because you want to know everything about money: today you save, tomorrow you invest !, a project developed by the team of the University of Pitești
- Personal budget management, project developed by the team of "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi
We have the awarding conference of the winners of the “Ideas for the Future” project, but let's not think that the project ends. In fact, we set out to identify from the area of young generations, from the area of students, ways to promote financial education, because in a way thinks an adult, who for example is a professional in the area of financial services, and otherwise thinks a student, economist, financier or from complementary specializations. We were curious to see this and we saw: We are excited about the ideas they came up with! Many thanks to the partners in the professional environment, who agreed to join the jury. Although we award the prizes, the project does not end because the effects are only going to occur. I encourage all participants to distribute the ideas, regardless of whether they were selected in the first three or not, to distribute them on social networks, in relation to colleagues, because they can become ambassadors of financial education ", said prof. Univ.dr . Marian Siminică, executive director of ISF.
The commission that designated the winning projects consisted of Cătălin Câmpeanu, ISF Deputy Director, Alexandru Ciuncan, UNSAR Executive Director, ISF CD member, Mihnea Bărbulescu, Erste Asset Management Executive Director and Eduard Simionescu, Greco Romania Director, UNSICAR CD member.
Jury members' messages for participants:
Cătălin Câmpeanu, Deputy Director of ISF
"We also received a lot of projects, and very good ones. The deliberation process was not easy, I did not easily choose the three projects, there was a lot of competition. We wanted to turn to you to adapt our means of communication to be more successful among students. It is very simple to realize that the way we think is not necessarily perfectly adaptable to the new generation, and this has always been the case: we have been the same to our parents, and our parents to our grandparents, and it will be the same. for you in a few years. We are happy with the success of this project! I can tell you that these projects that you have started, that it is just a beginning, we will put into practice. You will see them realized, and with your support, because we want to involve you from now on because, after all, this project is just a brick in a wall, it's just a beginning, and we intend to build on these projects, based on these ideas, in order to increase, in the end, the degree of financial education "
Alexandru Ciuncan, UNSAR Executive Director
"You are real ambassadors of financial education and I can only tell you that, in the future, the National Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania will go in the direction of financial education: we have six campaigns planned for this year, everything is digital , everything is dedicated to young people. These campaigns are largely carried out together with ISF and other professional associations in the market. I think we are all on this path at the beginning, but the future is in you. ”
Mihnea Bărbulescu, Executive Director of Erste Asset Management
"It was an honor and a privilege for me to be with the ISF team, with the guests and, especially, with the students who showed us that we can sleep peacefully at night because we will be followed by brand professionals. It was comforting for me to see how well they did. There are no different markets, we address the same Romanian consumer, the same Romanian citizen, and I think that if we manage to do what ISF does, put all the segments of the financial markets under the same dome, then I think we will be successful. ”
Eduard Simionescu, Greek Director Romania, member of CD UNSICAR
"Absolutely all the projects were interesting, they presented new ideas, but, as in any competition, someone has to win. I want to congratulate you today, those who have won, your projects are really ingenious and I challenge you with the following: The journey is just beginning! It's very difficult to achieve performance, but it's even harder to stay at that level. That is why you must continue on this path. A great composer said that inspiration comes to him when he looks at the stars. I invite you to look at the stars, to be brave and to help society progress, because, in the end, financial education means progress. ”
Mihaela Panduru, Financial Education Specialist, ISF
About the Institute of Financial Studies
The Institute of Financial Studies, founded by the Financial Supervision Authority, is a center of excellence in the field of market research and financial education programs to ensure the skills, abilities and knowledge of financial institutions and ASF staff and to increase the level of financial education of consumers of non-banking financial services and products. In the long term, ISF aims to align its activity with European requirements, move from knowledge accumulation to skills accumulation and assessment, provide training programs for the non-banking financial field adapted to new organizational processes, determined by legislative requirements, market dynamics and of the European framework, contributing to the maturation of the non-banking financial market in Romania, to the creation of its capacity to face the competition induced by globalization or the effects of the economic crises.
