Queen of the Netherlands meets financial education program in Brasilia

Next to the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto (R), the Queen of the Netherlands, Máxima (3rd L/R), talks to an elementary school student in Brasília – Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/Agência Brasil

In the schoolyard, the queen heard testimonials from children about how they and their family spend and save resources, based on what they learned in the classroom. Máxima also participated in a question and answer session, in which students asked how financial education can protect them against difficulties and enable investments in the future.

In response, the Queen spoke about the role of students as multipliers of knowledge about finance. She pointed out that the money saved makes it possible to fulfill shopping desires, to have credit and offers security in case of unforeseen circumstances.

“The biggest challenge of all is to convince you, who are the future, to have this financial inclusion and save. Because, when you have financial inclusion, shopping ends up being easy. But it is very important to save money for the future to be able to , really, to follow dreams in the long run,” said Máxima.

Since 2009, the Queen has been a special adviser to United Nations (UN) Secretariat-General for Inclusive Financing for Development, through education, and banking democratization to improve people’s lives. Máxima, who is in Brazil for the second time, has already visited representatives of fintechs (companies that introduce technological innovations in the financial markets), small commercial enterprises. Yesterday (6) she was received by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad.

Learn Value

In 2020, Learning Value started as a pilot project in six states and in less than 500 invited schools. Currently, almost 23,000 schools participate in the program, distributed in more than 3,000 municipalities in all states, plus the Federal District. They are rural, urban, indigenous and quilombola public schools.

BC president Roberto Campos Neto accompanied the queen’s visit to the school in Brasília. Campos Neto detailed how Learning Value has been applied. “We seek to encourage children and young people to reflect on their priorities and plan their future, in the short, medium and long term, in addition to making informed decisions, understanding the benefits of saving and the pros and cons of using credit.”

Schools in the municipal and state education network that wish to join the program can consult online the procedures for registration on the digital platform.

banking democratization

This morning, the Queen of Holland also participated in meetings at the headquarters of the Central Bank, in Brasília, to learn about other Brazilian initiatives for financial inclusion, such as the instant payment system PIX and the open finance (Authorized sharing of data between financial institutions).

Brazilians

Data from the World Bank Findex Reports 2021 on Brazil, released by the General Secretariat for Inclusive Financing for Development/UN, showed that, in 2021, 84% of adults had a bank account. If separated by gender, in that year, 87% of men and 81% of women had a bank account in Brazil.

Among adults, 46.2% had savings. Of these, 25.4% maintained savings through a formal account and 6.2% used a semi-formal modality, such as savings groups or an outsider account.

Outside the banking system, there were 27 million adults and 58.8% reported borrowing. Of these, 41.3% formally borrowed money and 24.7% borrowed money from family or friends.

The use of digital means of payment increased to 76.5% of adults in 2021 – in 2017, the total was 57.9%.

Accounts on mobile money platforms (mobile money) jumped from 4.8% (2017) to 27% in 2021. In general, users of such accounts have access to a cell phone, but do not have a bank account;

Another survey presented by the UN secretariat was about the Brazilian Financial Health Index (I-SFB – 2022), prepared by the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), with technical support from the BC, which indicated a relatively low level of financial health among Brazilians, which suggests that adults tend to have problems managing day-to-day expenses; fail to save for long-term goals; have limited financial resilience and who lack financial confidence about the future.

The Febraban survey shows that, in 2022, 34.2% of respondents spent more than they earned; only 19.8% would be able to afford a large and unexpected expense; and 56.4% stated that finances are a source of stress in family life.

Recommendations

Faced with such data, the UN secretariat proposes that public managers formulate policies that prioritize national financial health; financial services providers encourage innovation to improve customers’ monetary health, detect warning signs and support customers with money-related challenges, and promote competition and innovation for a responsible digital financial ecosystem and infrastructure that benefits all, with increasing the reach and quality of financial services.