2009 Summit
Financial Literacy 09 was a one-day summit, hosted by the Retirement Commission, in Wellington in June 2009. It brought together key New Zealanders interested in improving our population's financial literacy. Around 200 people from the private, public, education and community sectors shared the latest information and perspectives on financial education in New Zealand and around the world.
Key outcomes
A key outcome was the news that financial literacy is on the Government’s agenda with the announcement by Finance Minister Bill English that the advisory committee for the National Strategy for Financial Literacy would report to the Minister of Finance twice a year on progress in implementing the strategy.
The top five calls to action from the summit were:
- The current economic situation is a ‘teachable moment’ for financial education – we need to grab it.
- Communication to consumers needs to be simpler, more up-front and less reliant on the numbers and the figures.
- Different groups of people have different levels of knowledge and need targeted communications.
- Support for financial education is vital – support from education, the government, the finance sector and from all of you.
- It’s in the finance sector’s interest to invest in financial literacy.
Programme
| Time | Session/event |
|---|---|
| 8.00 | Registration |
| 9.00 |
Welcome Diana Crossan, Retiremttn Commissioner |
| 9.05 |
Summit Opening Hon Bill English, Minister of Finance |
| 9.25 |
Keynote Address Dr Annamaria Lusardi, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, USA Wealth, money, knowledge: how much do people know? Where are the gaps? What’s working? What’s next? Chair: Professor Keitha Dunstan, Member of the Securities Commission and Head of School of Accounting and Commercial Law, Victoria University of Wellington Commentators: Suzanne Snively, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Andrew Jackson, Deputy Secretary Competition, Trade and Investment, Ministry of Economic Development |
| 10.40 | Morning tea |
| 11.05 |
Keynote Address Wendy van den Hende, Chief Executive, Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG), UK Getting financial education into schools - why is the UK investing so heavily in it? What's the impact been? What are the lessons for New Zealand? Chair: Jenny Fagg, Chief Executive Officer, ANZ National Commentators: Karen Sewell, Secretary for Education Donna Dentice, Chief Executive, Young Enterprise Trust |
| 12.20 | Lunch |
| 1.00 |
Lifting New Zealanders' financial literacy. Are we making progress? Can we do more? Diana Crossan, Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan will assess progress against the National Strategy for Financial Literacy and discuss the findings of the second ANZ-Retirement Commission Financial Knowledge Survey. She will review where we've come, look ahead to the next steps and take questions from the floor. |
| 1.40 |
Parallel Sessions 1. Financial education in schools and tertiary institutions. Chaired by Jan Anderson, Principal, Otago Girls' High School with: Carolyn Stuart, Principal, Tawa Intermediate Toni O’Neill, Principal, Arowhenua Māori School Lyn Morris, Financial Literacy National Director, Young Enterprise Trust Don Farr, Skills Policy Advisor, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions
2. Finance sector role in financial education. Chaired by Ralph Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, AXA with: Diane Tate, Director, Financial Services, Corporations, Community, Australian Bankers' Association Inc. Sean Carroll, Managing Director, Asteron Martin Lewington, Head of Mercer NZ, Mercer (NZ) Ltd 3. Research and evaluation. Chaired by David Feslier, Executive Director, Retirement Commission with: Alison O’Connell, Researcher and Consultant Annamaria Lusardi, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, USA Suzanne Snively, Partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers |
| 2.45 | Guest appearance |
| 3.50 |
Summit Closing Paul Brock, Acting Chief Executive, Kiwibank Diana Crossan, Retirement Commissioner |
| 4.30 | Close |
