London – The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, has partnered with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to set up the inaugural ‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’ initiative as part of WIW 2019, which ran from Monday, September 30 to Friday, October 4.
This year, IOSCO and the WFE are working in partnership on a new initiative to support WIW called ‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’. The WFE invited its members to hold an opening or closing bell ringing ceremony, or a workshop, during WIW 2019 to promote the work they do in their own jurisdictions to improve financial education and literacy.
Thirty-three exchanges and CCPs rang the bell from Colombo to Chicago. The events are also an opportunity to bring stakeholders together to celebrate the progress that has been made by each participating exchange or CCP, and many of the events will be supported by the production of educational content, investor awareness campaigns and seminars on financial literacy.
Chief Executive Officer, WFE Nandini Sukumar said, “Financial literacy is the foundation of healthy, thriving, and trusted capital markets. Successful investment and the opportunity to generate growth through markets starts with financial literacy. Every single one of our 70 members - market infrastructures - spend time, energy, effort and resource on financial literacy.”
Chair, IOSCO Committee on Retail Investors, Jose Alexandre Vasco said,“The challenges remain enormous: the lack of financial skills may lead to serious consequences on long-term financial well-being. Bearing that in mind, the IOSCO campaign serves as a platform for collaboration on a global scale on investor protection and education.”