THEfinancial education it is fundamental for everyone. In the various moments of life and whatever the role in society. It is fundamental to being citizenthose who are aware and capable of participating in an informed manner in the debate and in economic policy decisions. It is to be consumers wise, making thoughtful purchases. It is to become savers who understand the different instruments in which to use the money and who distribute them in a manner consistent with one's risk propensity/aversion. It is to better manage company liquidity and provisions. It is also the case for those who, by profession, help families and businesses navigate the different tides and currents of global finance, in calm waters as well as stormy ones.
Financial intermediaries have two major responsibilities. The civil one in guiding people to make the best savings allocation choices for them. And the economic one: they are crucial facilitators of the intermediation between supply and demand of resources, between investments and savings, between wealth accumulated in the past and the generation of future wealth.
Their work is made more difficult, and at the same time more fascinating, by the continuous innovations in the world of finance, many of which can be broken down and traced back to classical tools, to be better understood. This simplification is not easy in the face of the great waves of uncertainty that have been occurring in recent years, which are difficult even for governments and central bankers to interpret. Geopolitical instability and very rapid technological changes are at the origin of this great uncertainty. Which can only be better addressed with constant updating and vigilant attention towards the enormous flow of information. The Internet and social media are powerful channels for transmitting news, reaching everyone in real time. Distinguishing real ones from fake ones requires judgment and experience that many savers do not have. More and more, those with a high economic-financial culture will be better able to read this great flow of information; There is thus a widening of the inequality of opportunities, which is already so wide. initiative, generating a gap in savings allocation opportunities. Finally, helping families navigate the labyrinth of stimuli and proposals is a task that has been added to the work of financial consultants and promoters.
In the quarter of a century before the Great Crisis of 2007-08 it was used to emphasize that finance was the most innovative industry. And this was a source of great pride for intermediaries, of whatever type and model they were. A truth that has remained so, despite the powerful regulatory crackdown that has been implemented at a global level, following the reports drawn up by the Financial Stability Board. A crackdown that in the USA took the path of federal regulations sanctioned by the Dodd-Frank Act[1]. Naturally, each system has tended to bend the new rules to its own models. Financial innovation has not, however, disappeared. And, indeed, it can even be stated that regulation, in addition to being more stringent, is also dynamic, or rather in flux. So it is itself a source of innovation, albeit external rather than internal to the financial system.
Technological innovation acts in the direction of financial innovation: from PCs to digital applications, with important implications for the defense of data security, including in their transmission. Innovations that have fundamentally changed the way finance operates and the relationships between intermediaries and savers, large and small.
Every technological change involves the necessary cultural adaptation of all three actors of savings management: back office, people on the front line in customer relations and savers themselves.
Furthermore, change in finance has gone from a discontinuous process, with periodic revolutions, to a seamless process, a sort of permanent flow. This means that cultural changes must also be continuous and, consequently, the training of the three actors just indicated must be continuous.
For all these reasons the same financial institutions, Italian and otherwise, are investing heavily in the financial education of the population. Bank of Italy has created a specific division and a website for economic and financial education. There is a bill in Parliament to introduce elements of economic education as a compulsory school subject in all levels of study.
FIRSTonline finance guide and Ref Ricerche with the collaboration of Allianz Bank: what is it for and why is it different
La Guide to finance by FIRSTonline and REF Ricerche It is part of this set of initiatives with some characteristics that distinguish it from similar products. First of all, it aims to be the first to fully comply with the principles established by the supervisory authorities to ensure that training is the true and only aim of the initiative. Secondly, each entry is written by well-known and authoritative experts. Thirdly, both FIRSTonline and REF Ricerche make independence the keystone of their competitiveness.
The plan of the work is made up of 24 short and easy to read articles, each accompanied by a graph that helps to understand the phenomenon explained in the article. The program involves the publication of an article on the FIRSTonline website every two weeks over the course of a year. Eventually, the articles will be collected and published in a volume, thanks to the support of Allianz Bank who supports the initiative. The Guide will help readers to understand some basic concepts of finance, for example the principle of risk diversification and the yield curve, and will introduce them to financial instruments: from the more traditional ones, such as bonds and investment funds, to those more innovative such as ETFs and crypto-assets.
[1] The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a 2010 law introduced by Barack Obama, which modifies the regulation of US finance, increasing the protection of savers. The areas of the reform are different and mainly concern the supervision of intermediaries and the rules on bank rescues.