financial services, i believe that more needs to be done to empower consumers in their dealings with financial services firms. improving financial literacy is an integral part of the consumer protection agenda. international financial literacy studies indicate that a majority of the world population do not have sufficient knowledge to understand even basic financial products and fail to make effective decisions to manage their finances and the risk associated with them. the oecd and g20 have advised that this needs to be undertaken through nationally coordinated and tailored approaches. 18 at the central bank, we know we need to deliver effective protection for consumers of financial products and services in a rapidly evolving financial services landscape. it is our responsibility to respond to emerging threats, to be vigilant to evolving potential threats and to be proactive in tackling risks to consumers. looking ahead, consumers would benefit from simpler products for example in the areas of pensions and health insurance. in the insurance sector, work needs to be done to attain the goal of consistent supervisory standards across europe and to coordinate the various national protection schemes for policyholders. finally, the technological innovations that bring the potential benefits of lower costs, speed, automation and convenience for consumers also pose some challenges for regulators in relation to consumer protection. our focus is on ensuring that the appropriate frameworks are in place so that firms must take the best interests of consumers into account in their design, operation and monitoring of online distribution and automated advice channels. furthermore, given the scope for online distribution channels to foster cross - border trade in financial services, it is essential that the legislative framework fosters internationalisation without compromising consumer protection. acknowledgements : i thank mary canniffe, yvonne mccarthy and helena mitchell for their inputs into this speech. references badarinza, c., campbell, j. y. and ramadorai, t. ( 2016 ). international comparative household finance, annual review of economics, 8, pp. 111 – 144. benartzi, s., and thaler, r. h. ( 2001 ). naive diversification strategies in defined contribution savings plans. american economic review, 91 ( 1 ), 79 – 98. campbell, john y., howell e. jackson, brigitte c. madrian and peter tufano ( 2016 ), “ consumer financial protection, ” journal of economic perspectives 25 ( 1 ), 91 – 114. campbell, john y. ( 2016 ), “ restoring rational choice : the challenge of consumer financial regulation, ” american economic review : papers & proceedings

. london : office of fair trading. henderson, b. j. and pearson, n. d. ( 2011 ). the dark side of financial innovation : a case study of the pricing of a retail financial product. journal of financial economics, 100 ( 2 ), 227 – 247. lusardi a. and tufano, p. ( 2009 ). debt literacy, financial experiences and overindebtedness, nber working paper no. 14808. 1 see campbell et al. ( 2011 ), campbell ( 2015 ), badarinza et al. ( 2016 ) for surveys of the literature. 2 see lusardi and mitchell ( 2007, 2011 ), lusardi et al. ( 2010 ) and lusardi and tufano ( 2009 ). 3 see loewenstein et al. ( 2003 ), della vigna and malmedier ( 2006 ) and gabaix and laibson ( 2006 ). 4 madrian and shea ( 2001 ) and carroll et al. ( 2009 ). 5 benartzi and thaler ( 2001 ). 6 heidhues and koszegi ( 2010 ). 7 office of fair trading ( 2010 ). 8 henderson and pearson ( 2011 ). 9 may et al. ( 2014 ) and lusardi and tufano ( 2009 ). 10 consumer protection agencies such as the financial conduct authority in the uk, the netherlands authority for the financial markets, and the financial consumer agency of canada do not have a prudential regulation role. agencies with dual regulation and consumer protection mandates include the german federal financial supervisory authority ( bafin ), the financial supervisory authority in denmark and the financial supervisory authority of norway. the central bank of ireland and the central bank of portugal have financial stability, prudential regulation and consumer protection mandates. 11 ccpc. ie /. 12 www. financialombudsman. ie /. 13 www. eba. europa. eu /, www. esma. europa. eu /, eiopa. europa. eu /. 14 finconet is the international authorities. www. finconet. org / organisation of financial consumer protection supervisory 8 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches 15 g20 high - level principles on financial consumer protection. published by oecd october 2011. followed by “ effective approaches to support the implementation of the remaining g20 / oecd high - level principles on financial consumer protection ”. published by o