The 4th Financial Education Congress, organized by the Edufinet Project, promoted by Unicaja Banco and Fundación Unicaja, has been inaugurated today. Until next Friday 19 November, more than 35 experts from different fields will analyse the future of this subject.
The Congress is held both in-person at Unicaja’s Center for Financial Education in Malaga (Avenida de Andalucía, 23) and online, broadcasted via YouTube. This year edition goes under the title ‘Financial education for a time of paradigm shift’. Free registration is open on Edufinet website.
The opening ceremony has had the participation of the Head of Financial Education at Grupo Unicaja, José Antonio Díaz Campos; the Director General of Fundación Unicaja, Sergio Corral and the Director General of Human Resources, Talent and Culture at Unicaja Banco, José María de la Vega.
Then, the first session has taken place, under the title ‘The ongoing (re)design of financial education programmes’, by the Head of the Edufinet Project, José M. Domínguez.
After this lecture, it was the turn of the debate 'The role of financial education: 2021-2030', moderated by Eugenio Luque, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies of the University of Malaga, and with the online participation of Fernando Tejada, Head of the Department of Conduct of Entities at the Bank of Spain; Gloria Caballero, Deputy Director of Financial Education at the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), and Mónica Malo, Head of Communication, External Relations and Sustainability at CECA.
In total, the congress includes 14 sessions and at four round tables, where the participants will analyze the role of financial education in this time of change of models. The congress is addressed at academics, professionals and representatives of public and private institutions, although it is open to the general audience.
Speakers include representatives from the Bank of Spain, CNMV, CECA, Instituto Español de Analistas Financieros (IEAF), or the National Police. There will also be speakers from universities such as those of Malaga, Seville or Valencia, the UNED, the Complutense de Madrid or the English University of Buckingham, as well as professionals from law firms and financial institutions.
Regarding the congress general goals, it intends to be a meeting point for the main agents involved in financial education, analyzing its current situation to identify trends and interest points and to share knowledge and experience.
It also seeks to identify the main challenges to improve financial literacy from a general perspective and bearing in mind specific groups or demographics too.
The congress will cover topics such as the need of the ongoing design of a financial education project and its role in the last ten years, or the efficiency assessment of a programme on this topic.
It will also analyze access to financial services by underage children as a learning tool; psychology and financial regulation; learning basic economic and financial concepts at home; basic financial skills that should be mastered by a professional athletes; financial analysis as a pre-requirement to make financial decisions, or new taxation.
The economic and financial decisions of SMEs and individuals in the current energy market; skills in economics and finance for civil servants; financial education and its link with financial and non-financial entities; the impact of monetary policy measures on financial decision-making by individuals and companies, or basic calculation skills for financial education, are other topics to be discussed.
The 2030 Agenda, the SDGs and their relationship with financial education will also be present at this event, as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in the specific case of entrepreneurs. Issues such as artificial intelligence and its relationship with financial education, cybercrime and fraud will also be addressed.
Edufinet Project
The Edufinet Project has more than 15 years of history. Although it was launched in 2007, its development began in 2005 within Unicaja and with the collaboration of the Andalusia International University (UNIA, Universidad Internacional de Andalucía) and of the University of Malaga (UMA).
Edufinet has currently the support of twenty universities, business organizations and institutions, and more than 180,000 people have participated so far in the different seminars, workshops, courses and lectures that it has carried out.
