In 2018 the European Money Week is going to be held from the 12th to the 16th of March. The joint initiative of the European Banking Federation whose member is the Association of Banks in Bulgaria (ABB) and the national banking associations has been marked in Europe for a fourth subsequent year. In 2018 the European Money Week is planned to coincide with the Global Money Week as it is expected the messages from the initiatives to reach nearly 8 million children and young people.
The aim of the European Money Week is to increase the public awareness on the issues of financial education and financial literacy by organizing different activities for pupils both on national and European level. In the long run the aim of the campaign which includes more than 30 countries is to improve the level of financial education in Europe, particularly for pupils in the primary and secondary schools.
The ABB exchanges best practices with other European banking associations regarding the increase of financial literacy among pupils. The ABB was among the leading associations in the financial sector supporting the start of the project “Practical Finances” by signing a Memorandum for cooperation in November 2017, with the aim of increasing the financial literacy of high school students and the implementation of a school class for financial literacy at Bulgarian schools.
The banking sector in Bulgaria has adopted as its mission the active support and contribution to increasing financial literacy of the young people in the country as their knowledge on finances is highly beneficial and important for the society. For that reason, the banks perform activities on a regular basis in order to provide knowledge to the Bulgarian pupils about their activities and to provide support for the realization of different students’ initiatives, e.g. creation and development of the activities of the “training banks”. Similar campaigns contribute to the kids understanding on how the banking sector functions and to acquire more knowledge on basic financial issues, e.g. basic rules on how to manage the money they have, how to make their weekly budget or how to save in order to buy the desirable things.
During the European Money Week 2018 activities and initiatives devoted to the increase of students’ financial literacy are planned by DSK Bank, Piraeus Bank Bulgaria, United Bulgarian Bank, Postbank, First Investment Bank, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, Citi Bank Europe-Bulgaria Branch, TBI Bank, UniCredit Bulbank and Central Cooperative Bank.