. it is heartening to note that the symposium has attracted 42 paper submissions, with 10 papers shortlisted through a rigorous evaluation process to be presented at this symposium. i trust that these research presentations will offer fresh ideas and innovative solutions that can bridge the gap between theory and practice, to promote better financial education outcomes. i am confident that all your excellent work will inspire many others to contribute highquality research to advance academic literature in the area of financial literacy. with continued participation and support from the academic community, it is my wish to see the national financial literacy symposium become a strong catalyst for advancing 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches research on financial literacy and well - being, both domestically but also at the global stage. perhaps, one day, the symposium itself could be the breeding ground for quality research that earns a nobel prize in economic sciences! before i conclude, allow me to reiterate that advancing financial education and literacy has never been more urgent in today's rapidly evolving economic and technological landscape. this dynamic environment demands greater agility in our approaches to empower consumers to navigate financial challenges and uncertainties effectively. as we gather over the next two days, we are engaging in a mission to drive positive change. i urge each one of us here to actively participate in the symposium, by contributing to the conversations and exchanging ideas that will sharpen our ability to realise our shared goal of empowering communities for sustainable well - being. with that, i wish you all a productive symposium ahead. thank you. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

in this direction faster than others, based on the particular attributes of their payments and currency systems. at the federal reserve, we will continue to analyze the potential benefits and costs of central bank digital currencies and look forward to learning from other central banks. supporting payments innovation while prudence cautions against rushing into untested approaches to central bank digital currencies, we are actively investing in our payments infrastructure, so that everyone has access to real - time payments. every day, u. s. payment and securities settlement systems turn over roughly $ 12. 5 trillion. 21 the federal reserve is committed to working closely with the private sector to promote a safer and more efficient payments system. 22 this summer, we announced that the federal reserve will launch the first new payment service in more than 40 years to help make real - time payments available to everyone. 23 the federal reserve will develop the fednowsm service as a platform for consumers and businesses to send and receive payments immediately and securely 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. this initiative is intended to provide a neutral platform for new private - sector innovation in faster payment services. in addition to fednow, we are exploring enhancements to same - day many distributed ledgers in existence today rely on probabilistic settlement, meaning that the more times a transaction is confirmed on the ledger, the less likely it will be revoked, but a non - zero risk of settlement failure persists. based on staff estimates. see, e. g., https : / / fedpaymentsimprovement. org /. lael brainard, “ delivering fast payments for all ” ( speech delivered at the federal reserve bank of kansas city, kansas city, missouri, august 5, 2019 ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / speech / brainard20190805a. htm ; lael brainard, “ supporting fast payments for all, ” ( speech delivered at the fed payments improvement community forum, chicago, october 3, 2018 ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / speech / brainard20181003a. htm. - 13 settlement of automated clearinghouse ( ach ) transactions and expansion of fedwire® funds service and national settlement system operating hours. we are working with the industry to improve the security of the payments system by, for example, increasing understanding of