ben s bernanke : fostering financial literacy speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the national bankers association foundation financial literacy summit reception, washington dc, 13 april 2010. the original speech, which contains various links to the documents mentioned, can be found on the us federal reserve system ’ s website. * * * it is a distinct pleasure to visit with the national bankers association foundation this evening. i am very pleased to be among your honorees. the foundation does important work, including helping consumers make wise financial choices, connecting the “ unbanked ” with mainstream providers of financial services, and providing assistance and support to minority bankers and entrepreneurs. april is financial literacy month, and so it is fitting that you are hosting this event. i note that you also plan to hold a financial literacy summit later this year on the howard university campus. the summit will bring scholars, bankers, community activists, and others together to brainstorm strategies for educating consumers of financial products. many american families are struggling in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which reinforces the need for reliable and useful information to facilitate good financial choices. helping people better understand how to borrow and save wisely and how to build personal wealth is one of the best things we can do to improve the well - being of families and communities. the foundation is making great contributions to this effort, for example, through your online library of personal finance educational materials. 1 the federal reserve very much shares your abiding interest in helping consumers successfully navigate the financial marketplace. our approach is two - pronged. first, we work actively to foster financial and economic education. second, recognizing that basic financial knowledge is not sufficient to keep people safe from fraud and deceptive practices, we are committed to developing and enforcing strong rules to protect consumers. on the financial education front, examples of the federal reserve ’ s many resources available to the public are an online credit card calculator that helps consumers estimate how long it will take to pay off a credit card bill under different payment scenarios, 2 concise brochures – in both english and spanish – offering consumer tips on such topics as avoiding mortgage foreclosure scams and protecting their checking accounts, 3 and interactive websites that provide consumers with what they need to know about new protections for credit card accounts and overdraft protection programs that recently took effect. 4 see nba foundation, inc., “ financial literacy ”, webpage

we want to encourage the industry to take advantage of rapidly evolving technologies and alternatives. in short, regulators need to balance competing issues. we have an important ongoing interest in the safety and soundness of individual institutions as well as in systemic financial stability. but we also recognize that, even though the largest nationally and internationally active institutions have a key role to play in financial stability, they also participate in a competitive marketplace. thus, we need to be careful not to place undue burden on a handful of institutions. i expect that the marketplace will create its own incentives for institutions to invest in business resumption, as customers begin to demand assurances that their financial institutions can indeed continue to provide services if a regional or widespread operational disruption occurs. conclusion although these issues are complicated, we cannot afford to ignore the lessons learned from 9 / 11. as consensus emerges, we will have to expand our dialogue and encourage foreign financial systems, counterparties, and customers to seek levels of resilience necessary for the smooth operation of global financial markets. we have seen a sincere willingness on the part of industry participants to discuss business - resumption issues frankly and openly. i hope that industry members will incorporate best practices as appropriate to their particular business activities and in light of their role in the financial markets. we may have to prod a bit, but i am confident that, in the end, we will achieve an even higher degree of resilience for our financial system, which will be effective in responding to the panoply of imaginable - - and even some unimaginable - - events.