Moscow, 15 – 16 February 2013

Financial Consumer Protection/Financial Education

Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General

Moscow, Saturday 16th January 2013,

Minister Siluanov,
Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for the opportunity to give you an update on the advancement of work carried out by the OECD for the G20 on the issues of financial inclusion, financial consumer protection and financial education.

The OECD has shown its commitment to this strand of G20 work by providing your Leaders with key global principles to enhance financial consumer protection in 2011 at the Cannes Summit; and by promoting the development of consistent financial education strategies last year with the High Level OECD/INFE Principles on national strategies for financial education delivered at the Los Cabos Summit.

This, we acknowledge, is only a beginning. On these two complementary fields, financial education and financial consumer protection, the OECD is whole heartily engaged to develop and promote more than high level approaches, i.e. practical tools and guidance to help you and the policymakers and stakeholders in your country to decide on best implementation practices.
Let me be a bit more specific:

- On financial education, we are moving to the next steps and responding to G20 Leaders’ call at the Los Cabos summit. This year, this will for instance include methodological work with our World Bank colleagues; a publication on national strategies for financial education amongst G20 countries; a dedicated report and set of policy guidance on women empowerment through financial education and awareness.

I take this opportunity to confirm OECD commitment and active contribution to the work of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, alongside other implementing partners, especially in the areas of financial literacy and consumer protection.    

- Speaking of financial consumer protection, following the endorsement by the G20 Leaders in Cannes of the High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection, we have been working hard with the G20/OECD Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection and our key stakeholders and partners to progress on the next phase of the work. This involves the development of effective approaches to support the implementation of three of the high-level principles, namely, disclosure and transparency, responsible business conduct and complaint handling. An advanced progress report will be ready in time for the Saint Petersburg summit next September.

We are looking forward to working with you on these important issues and informing G20 Leaders on our progress in the area of financial education and consumer protection by the next Summit in St. Petersburg.

Thank you.