International policymakers and education providers to attend major conference in Seoul
The Citigroup-INSEAD Financial Education Summit 2006 will bring together around 300 delegates from governments, non-profit organizations, academia and the private sector bodies to address the critical need to improve financial education for children, teenagers and young adults. With the theme of Financial Health for the Next Generation, the conference will be held in Seoul, November 9-10. It will be the largest gathering of financial education advocates, policymakers and providers in Asia Pacific.
This is the third annual Financial Education Summit organized by Citigroup, the leading global financial services group, and INSEAD, one of the world’s premier business schools. This year’s Summit is being held in partnership with the Financial Times.
Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Citigroup’s Asia Pacific Consumer Bank, said Asia Pacific’s growing youth population has to navigate an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, but they often lack basic money management skills.
“Most school-leavers and young-income earners have received very limited financial education, leading to over-spending and poor financial planning. This conference is an important forum for regulators, educators, corporates and other key stakeholders to discuss how to work together to address this crucial learning gap,” Mr Vaswani said.
Anil Gaba, Dean of Faculty at INSEAD, said young people are not being adequately equipped with financial skills to improve their quality of life.
“Whether you live in Cambodia, Kolkutta or Kyoto, financial literacy is a basic life skill. This Summit is about finding ways to teach that skill from a very young age, both inside and outside the classroom,” Professor Gaba said.
Discussion topics will include how financial illiteracy among youth is affecting a range of socio-economic issues including unemployment, human capital development and entrepreneurship, as well as effective ways of teaching young people to be more financially responsible and competent.
The conference programme features keynote addresses from dignitaries such as Dong-Soo Chin, Vice Minister of Finance and Economy, Korea and Wu Xiaoling, Deputy Governor, People’s Bank of China. In addition, speakers from over 30 organizations around the world will participate in plenary or concurrent sessions, including: Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC); Bank Indonesia; Central Provident Fund, Singapore; Freedom from Hunger; Hong Kong Institute of Education; International Monetary Fund (IMF); Knowledge Channel, Philippines; National Endowment for Financial Education, US; National Taiwan University; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Retirement Commission, New Zealand; Stock Exchange of Thailand; UNICEF; US Department of the Treasury; and YWCA.
For more details about the Summit programme and the speaker line-up, please visit: www.financialeducationsummit.org.
About Citigroup
Citigroup (NYSE: C), the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage, and asset management. Major brand names under Citigroup’s trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.
Citigroup Foundation
The Citigroup Foundation focuses its grants primarily in three areas: financial education, educating the next generation, and building communities and entrepreneurs. Additional information can be found at www.citigroup.com/citigroup/corporate/foundation
Citigroup Financial Education Program
Based on the belief that knowledge is your greatest assetSM, the Citigroup Financial Education Program is a global, company-wide effort to identify, support and implement initiatives that help give individuals, families and communities the tools needed to make sound financial decisions. Citigroup's 10-year, $200 million global commitment is focused in three areas: Personal, Small Business and Institutional Financial Education.
