susan schmidt bies : us - eu regulatory dialogue testimony of ms susan schmidt bies, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the committee on financial services, us house of representatives, washington, dc, 13 may 2004. * * * thank you, mr. chairman, for the opportunity to speak today on matters relating to the informal u. s. - eu financial markets regulatory dialogue. i would like to focus my remarks on the dialogue ’ s role in helping us to monitor european - wide regulatory developments in financial services and understand the effects on u. s. banking organizations operating in the european union. background to the dialogue as has been noted, the dialogue was initiated by the treasury department in 2002, at a time of significant regulatory developments in both the european union and in the united states. at that time, the european union was continuing its efforts, begun in 1999, to establish a single market in financial services by implementing the “ financial services action plan ” ( fsap ). the fsap consists of a number of regulatory and legislative measures designed to achieve, among other things, a single wholesale european market ; open and secure retail markets ; and state - of - the - art prudential rules and supervision. on our side of the atlantic, u. s. regulators were continuing to implement provisions of the gramm - leach - bliley act and congress was considering reforms that led to the adoption of the sarbanes - oxley act. these developments, which affected european financial services firms with u. s. operations, naturally were of interest to staff of the european commission. from the outset, the dialogue ’ s purpose has been to foster a better mutual understanding of u. s. and eu regulatory approaches and to identify potential substantive conflicts in approach as early in the regulatory process as possible. the dialogue consists of an informal discussion or explanation of regulatory approaches, developments, and timetables, conducted at an experts level. this format has served us well during the past two years. although the federal reserve has regular contact with staff of the european commission in other groups on a range of issues, the dialogue is the only venue dedicated specifically to u. s. - eu regulatory issues. federal reserve ’ s interest in monitoring foreign regulatory developments as the umbrella supervisor of u. s. bank holding companies and financial holding companies, the federal reserve has a strong interest in the regulatory environments in which these firms operate outside the united states. we have an established program

survey indicated that, on average, filipino adults correctly answered only three out of seven financial literacy - related questions. the same survey also found that filipinos lack specific knowledge required to make informed saving and borrowing decisions. 2 clearly, there is a need for effective financial education interventions. the bsp economic and financial learning program the bsp has long recognized the importance of economic and financial education and its potential to help improve people ’ s lives. in 2010, we consolidated all bsp learning events under one umbrella – the economic and financial learning program ( eflp ) to ensure consistency of 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches messages, synergy of activities, and efficient use of resources. we focused on current economic issues, the role of the bsp in the economy, good money habits, personal finance management and financial consumer protection. eflp now consists of more than 10 component programs designed for specific audiences : the children, college students, the working sector, investors, overseas filipinos, and selected unbanked sectors. this is a nationwide program that involves seven departments within the bsp, as well as our regional offices and branches. 3 eflp participants have rated the programs with an average of 4. 5, with 5 as highest possible score. having said this, we know a lot more needs to be done. in this connection, we will continue to enhance, innovate and diversify our outreach programs to determine the most effective and efficient ways to reach our target audience and attain our education objectives. financial education, a key component of consumer protection at the bsp, financial education is not just an advocacy — it is integral to the financial consumer protection framework. this is a set of regulations that promotes consumer welfare and upholds – within bsp - supervised institutions – a culture of transparent, fair and responsible treatment of consumers. this means that financial institutions under bsp supervision will be held accountable for ensuring that consumers are : 1. provided with correct and understandable information about their financial transactions ; 2. protected from mis - use or abuse of their personal data through risk - based data handling procedures ; 3. treated fairly and professionally, with the consumer ’ s well - being in mind ; 4. given access to an objective and efficient mechanism for complaint resolution and redress ; and 5. assisted to make sound decisions through objective financial education and awarenessraising methods. indeed, we remind our institutions that a customer - centric approach to any business, including banking and finance, works well