Mr Chairman, learning from others, some of the obstacles facing the leasing companies, include inability to attract funding and lack of adequate leasing expertise, can be overcome through formation of synergies and partnership with other industry players. I understand in the USA, for example, over 70% of leases are actually written through lease intermediary companies or brokers, who use their specialised skills to structure lease transactions in the best way possible for the benefit of both the lessee and the lease underwriter. Lease syndications and funding partnerships with bigger players should also be encouraged as these help to spread risk and reduce pressures on balance sheets of individual leasing companies. Ladies and Gentlemen, you will agree with me that there is vast untapped potential of leasing activities in this country. There is need to develop this line of business further. A developed leasing sector is characterized by a diverse range of financial services that include factoring and trade finance, term lending, corporate finance and investment advisory services, and corporate restructuring, treasury management as well as traditional leasing activities. But this is not the case in Zambia at  2  BIS Review 17/2007  present. Currently, the leasing sector is restricted primarily to the traditional leasing activities. This seminar has thus come at the right time, as the lessons learnt are vital to complement the Government’s efforts not only to develop the leasing sector, but the financial sector as a whole.

In any event, the low level of the Spanish population’s financial literacy evidenced by the Survey is not something exclusive to Spain; rather, it is seen worldwide.2 However, in the particular case of knowledge on diversification, and unlike the other questions, the percentage of correct replies in the population as a whole is significantly lower than that in other developed countries (49% in Spain, compared with 62% in the OECD or EU countries). 1  The Survey microdata are freely accessible for scientific research purposes and are available on the Banco de España website at: https://app.bde.es/gnt_seg/controlAccesoEmail.jsp?pas=ecf&lang=en. 2 OECD (2017), G20/OECD INFE report on adult financial literacy in G20 countries, http://www.oecd.org/dat/fin/financialeducation/G20-OECD-INFE-report-adult-financial-literacy-in-G20_countries.pdf. 4/8  The results reveal some sex and age-based heterogeneity in the degree of familiarity with these basic financial notions. This heterogeneity in financial knowledge has been related in some international studies to actual financial decision-making in households3, such that the level of financial literacy would be higher in the individuals that actually take these decisions. That might suggest either some specialisation in this area within the household, or that financial literacy is acquired through practice. The results of the Survey also show that the level of financial literacy in Spain increases in step with the level of educational attainment4, as occurs in other developed countries. The age profile observed is also relatively common. In Spain, the percentage of correct replies increases with age up to 54 years. Above that age, the percentage of correct replies falls and the percentage of interviewees replying “Don’t know” increases.