Translated material
Finlikbez is being prepared for the country
The Ministry of Finance has developed a program to improve the financial literacy of Russians
For the emerging mortgage crisis, which threatens to engulf not only the United States, but the whole world, some experts, paradoxical as it may sound, blame... the gullibility and financial illiteracy of Americans. During the period when mortgage rates were at the level of 1-1.5%, people did not think about what would happen if rates rose. In the United States, the mortgage rate is “floating” and depends on the Federal Reserve refinancing rate; nevertheless, Americans took out loans to purchase real estate, regardless of the likely increase in interest rates or possible personal financial difficulties. Now mortgage funds are on the verge of bankruptcy, and people who took out loans may end up on the street.Another example is that not long ago there was a collapse in stock prices on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and only by a miracle was it possible to avoid a repeat of the 1997 crisis. And one of the reasons was that minority Chinese investors, who decided that the securities did not give them the desired result, simultaneously dumped the shares, causing the market to collapse.
The possibility of such “uncultured”, from a financial point of view, behavior in Russia was confirmed by a recent letter from dissatisfied minority shareholders of Rosneft, who delivered an ultimatum to the company’s board, demanding an increase in the amount of dividends for 2006. And what is unfolding now around VTB shares, which lost several percent in recent trading?! Someone explained to the impatient minority shareholders of the bank that it is impossible to judge the true price of shares based on the results of daily ups and downs; moreover, someone prepared them for the fact that, having become shareholders, they would have to share all the risks with the company and they could end up not only in winning, but also in the “flight”? It is clear that this information was not in television advertising, but future minority shareholders simply had to know about the existence of the law on joint stock companies...
The stabilization of the Russian financial system and economic growth have led to the fact that an increasing number of Russians have the opportunity not only to earn more, but also to take out loans, invest money in shares and other stock market instruments. But not all of us go to the market with our eyes open, know how to correctly calculate percentages and anticipate risks. According to the National Agency for Financial Research, 49% of Russians prefer to keep cash savings at home, 62% of respondents said that the services of financial institutions, mainly banks, are complex and incomprehensible to them. At the same time, 33% of respondents are ready to invest their money and said that they would buy shares of “some domestic company.”
In order to protect Russians from new “financial pyramids” and teach our compatriots to navigate the intricacies of stock market dynamics, the head of the Ministry of Finance, Alexei Kudrin, proposed developing a program to improve the financial literacy of Russians, the initial version of which has already been prepared by the ministry and is being approved by the government. The program is designed for several years and involves the development of an individual set of measures for each category of citizens: schoolchildren, students, people employed in the financial sector, pensioners. It is assumed that as early as January 1, 2008, the country can “sit down” and improve its overall financial culture.
What should you teach and learn first? According to Andrey Bokarev, Deputy Director of the Department of International Financial Relations of the Ministry of Finance, at least three “dossiers” can now be distinguished. The first is the situation in the consumer lending market, when people take out loans without calculating their own capabilities and become debtors. The second problem is the state of pension provision. It is not normal when more than 90% of potential pensioners give the funded part of their future pension to the state, without even asking whether there are more profitable options for preserving and increasing their capital in old age. Finally, we need to modernize the school curriculum of the general course of economic knowledge, without which it is impossible to painlessly integrate the younger generation into modern market reality.
However, the Ministry of Finance believes that at the first stage it is necessary to highlight only the most pressing problems, the rest can be picked up by the business community, which is no less interested in the “educated client” than the state. Thus, the Association of Russian Banks has already organized a Credit Agency, which advises borrowers planning to get a loan. Rosselkhozbank came up with the institution of commissioners who explain to the villagers the basics of credit policy. Sberbank, which has the largest number of both depositors and borrowers, approached the problem thoroughly. So that Sberbank specialists can not only competently and clearly explain to clients the intricacies of financial instruments, but also instill the rudiments of financial culture, regional branches of Sberbank, together with higher educational institutions, have been conducting an additional educational course “Higher School of Banking” for several years now.
Of course, no one will be able to completely protect potential depositors, investors, shareholders and shareholders from market costs. Another thing is that “financial literacy should protect people from fatal mistakes and taking on excessive risks,” believes Deputy Minister of Finance Sergei Storchak. Thanks to the financial literacy program, everyone will be able to receive an effective “calculator”, with the help of which they themselves will learn to correctly assess the potential income and damage from their financial transactions.
*Project of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation