francois villeroy de galhau : special address on the french national strategy for financial education speech by mr francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the bank of france, at the 4th oecd / gflec global policy research symposium to advance financial literacy " addressing the needs of youth ", paris, 24 may 2017. * * * accompanying slides. your highness ( queen maxima of the netherlands ), mr. secretary general, ladies and gentlemen, i am delighted to be here with you today for this symposium on financial literacy. indeed, french citizens have high expectations about financial education : [ slide 2 ] 78 % believe that financial literacy should be taught at school and 65 % believe that access to it would reduce overindebtedness and financial vulnerability. 1 academic research by annamaria lusardi and olivia mitchell2 confirms its importance, as does our own research in france3 [ slide 3 ]. if we consider the three " standard " questions used to assess awareness of interest rates, inflation and risk diversification, only 30 % of those surveyed answered all three questions correctly, which is lower than in other european countries. furthermore, in france some of the worst results were obtained by the youngest age group, as well as the oldest. however, there is more at stake : this represents a challenge for democracy. providing our fellow citizens with the keys to understanding complex economic debates is a matter of respect. there's no use in complaining about " populism ", which incidentally is a label that is too easily used, if we can't provide the " people " with the ability to ask the right questions and then evaluate the answers. france has therefore made a firm commitment to implement a strategy for financial education based on the principles set out by the oecd and endorsed by the g20 leaders. work on the strategy began in 2013 and on 20 december of last year, the minister of the economy called the first meeting of the national committee for financial education. this committee brings together relevant administrations and institutions, consumer associations and finance sector professionals, and gives the political impetus at the very highest level. the minister also reaffirmed the role entrusted to the banque de france of conducting the national strategy. before continuing with a presentation of our first collective achievements, i would like to focus on the role of the banque de france. * * * 1. the banque de france, the conductor of the national strategy [ slide 4 ] the banque de

t. " 4 and i would add that it is financial education that should make all the fine print understandable. thank you for your attention. 1 " education financiere : connaissances et pratiques des francais ". survey on the financial literacy of french people carried out by the french public opinion institute, ifop, for the ministry of the economy and finance in september 2016. 2 lusardi a. and mitchell o. s. ( 2014 ), “ the economic importance of financial literacy : theory and evidence ", journal of economic literature, 52 ( 1 ), pp. 5 - 44. 3 l. arrondel, m. debbich and f. savignac ( 2013 ), “ financial literacy and financial planning in france ", numeracy, vol. 6, iss. 2, article 8. l. arrondel, m. debbich and f. savignac ( 2015 ), “ stockholding in france : the role of financial literacy and information ", applied economic letters, vol. 22, iss. 16, pp. 1315 – 1319. l. arrondel, m. debbich and f. savignac ( 2015 ), “ does financial literacy influence financial decisions? ", banque de france, rue de la banque no 2. www. banque - france. fr / uploads / tx _ bdfgrandesdates / rdb _ 02. pdf. 4 pete seeger in “ loose talk ", ed. by linda botts, 1980. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches