A commitment to financial education should be a natural extension of the financial industry’s commitment to professional and ethical conduct in doing business. In Malaysia, a national network for financial education is being pursued involving the several  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  key stakeholders to provide a platform to drive, prioritise and coordinate the financial education initiatives. Financial education strategies also needs to be accompanied by a strong focus on developing a robust consumer protection regime with emphasis on fair treatment, transparency and effective recourse that promotes a culture of responsible conduct by financial service providers. The experience of the global financial crisis has clearly demonstrated that an effective consumer protection framework serves not only to protect individuals from excessive risk; it also has an important role in protecting the financial system from systemic risk. A particular focus on consumer protection policies, and one that is key to advancing the financial inclusion agenda, should be to protect vulnerable groups and ensure that financial innovation is pursued in a responsible manner. The board and senior management of financial service providers have a key role in setting the right policies and incentive systems that support fair and responsible business practices. Financial service providers that embrace fair dealings are likely to enhance their competitive advantage by building stronger and more lasting consumer relationships and enhancing their brand value. Fair dealings can also reduce exposures to reputational risk arising from poor business conduct, as evidenced by recent incidents of mis-selling and resulting sanctions by conduct authorities.

These factors will become more acute in an increasingly complex and technologydriven financial system. Financial education has an important role in breaking such barriers. This will require more innovative approaches, broader partnerships and a deeper understanding of the social attitudes. Our own experience in Malaysia through the work of Bank Negara Malaysia and the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (a subsidiary of the Bank) has shown that the impact of financial education strategies depends  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  on the ability to effectively combine broad-based and targeted strategies, and having a wellcoordinated approach that relies on multiple channels to reach different groups. Financial education is also a lifelong endeavour, from encouraging children to save their pocket money to helping adults attain financial security and independence for their old age. In supporting the inclusion agenda, financial education initiatives in Malaysia are designed as an important life skill, where consumers are exposed to knowledge on financial management during the different periods in their life. An increasing trend is for financial capability to be promoted from an early age through the integration of financial education into the formal school curriculum that covers basic money management, spending and savings, credit and debts, e-payments, financial risk management and consumer responsibilities. For the youth and adult segments of the population, Malaysia has also adopted a life event approach to the development and delivery of financial capability programmes.