Exchanges round the world ring bell all week for financial literacy

Exchanges and CCPs around the world have united to promote financial literacy and boost financial inclusion, ringing the bell in multiple countries on multiple days all week during World Investor Week (WIW) 2019.

The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, has partnered the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to set up the inaugural ‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’ initiative as part of WIW 2019, which runs from 30 September to 4 October 2019.

WIW is a week-long, global campaign to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection, and to highlight the various initiatives of securities regulators in these two critical areas.

This year, IOSCO and the WFE are partnering 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 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 are ringing 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.

WFE Chief Executive Officer 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.”

IOSCO Committee on Retail Investors Chair Jose Alexandre Vasco added: “We welcome the launch of the ‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’ event. Thanks to WFE’s leadership, exchanges and market infrastructure providers will be working together with regulators to promote financial literacy during WIW 2019. The challenges remain enormous: the lack of financial skills may lead to serious consequences on long-term financial wellbeing. Bearing that in mind, the IOSCO campaign serves as a platform for collaboration on a global scale on investor protection and education. The ‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’ event represents a very important step; not only will it pave the way for new editions, but it will also strengthen ties among exchanges and regulators, both locally and globally.”