Over 2,000 people representing various backgrounds participated in the 5th Financial Education and Entrepreneurship Congress, which this year was held under the theme "A Year of Experience – Years of Challenges." This is the most important annual meeting nationwide dedicated to discussion, exchange of experiences, and establishing cooperation in the areas of education in finance, cybersecurity, and entrepreneurship. The Congress was held under the honorary patronage of the Ministries of Finance, Development, Labor, and Technology. Institutional patronage was provided by the National Bank of Poland, the Polish Bank Association, the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and the Conference of Rectors of Economic Universities. The Congress marked the inauguration of the 5th anniversary celebration of the "Bankers for Education" sectoral program.
The Congress was organized by foundations working for the economic education of society – the Warsaw Institute of Banking Foundation (operator of the „Bankers for Education” Program, established on the initiative of the Polish Bank Association) and the WSE Foundation (organizer of the Stock Exchange School and the Niebanalnie o Giełdzie project).
This year's anniversary edition of the Congress was held for the first time in an interactive online format. Each participant could participate in the event via a specially designed multimedia platform, enabling participation in all items on the Congress agenda and accessing additional functionalities.
The general partner of the event was the Santander Bank Polska Foundation, the main partner was the Financial Market Development Foundation, and the supporting partner was PFR TFI.
The Congress was inaugurated by Michał Polak, Vice President of the Warsaw Institute of Banking Foundation, followed by Professor Adam Glapiński, President of the National Bank of Poland, who spoke about the importance of cooperation and collaboration between multiple institutions for effective action.
Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, President of the Polish Bank Association, then spoke, highlighting the crucial role of financial education in today's world of advanced civilizational transformation. Bartosz Niebrzydowski, President of the GPW Foundation, highlighted the growing importance of financial education, while also drawing attention to the new financial pitfalls that stakeholders are exposed to.
The next point of the Congress plenary session was the speech of the President of the Warsaw Institute of Banking Foundation – Waldemar Zbytek, who spoke about the effects of the sectoral program "Bankers for education" and inaugurated the celebration of the 5th anniversary of the Program.
President Marzena Atkielska spoke about the Scholarship Programme and educational campaigns of the General Partner of the Congress, the Santander Bank Polska Foundation.
Wim Mijs, Director General of the European Banking Federation, was a special guest at the 5th Financial Education and Entrepreneurship Congress. He said: "Polish students and pupils always achieve top positions in financial literacy competitions. It is crucial that Poland shares its experience with the European Commission so that we can learn from you and make progress together. The success of economic education depends on cooperation between the banking sector, banking federations, ministries of finance and education, politicians, and Europeans. Thank you, Poland!"„
During the Congress's plenary session, the 2020 Financial Education Council Awards were presented. The winners were: the BGK Foundation and the Junior Achievement Foundation. Renata Oszast, Chairwoman of the Financial Education Council and Director General at the Ministry of Finance, also announced that work on developing a Financial Education Strategy has begun. A ceremony was also held to award the awards to the institutions and individuals most active in educational programs in 2020 (read more HERE).
In the morning, a joint press conference was also held with the presentation of the results of the annual survey "Level of financial knowledge of Poles 2020".
The debate entitled "The Role of Economic Education in Effectively Restarting the Economy" was attended by: Katarzyna Korycka, Communications Director of the Financial Market Development Foundation, Dr. Wojciech Nagel, Chair of the GPW Foundation Council, Małgorzata Sobkowicz, President of the Youth Achievement Foundation, and Waldemar Zbytek, President of the Warsaw Institute of Banking Foundation.
The plenary session concluded with educational demonstrations: a lecture for students entitled "Digital transformation of financial services" led by Wojciech Pantkowski, Vice-President of the National Clearing House SA, and a lesson for students entitled "My finances – I think entrepreneurially" led by Maciej Fidecki, a volunteer of the BAKCYL project from Bank Pocztowy SA.
The second part of the Congress featured four panel sessions. Topics covered included economic education in the era of distance learning, why it's worth investing long-term in the stock market, how the pandemic has changed customer behavior when it comes to payments, and volunteering and employee e-volunteering during the pandemic, including how to organize it.
More: www.kef.edu.pl
