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Financial literacy is an essential life skill that leads to higher living standards, according to ASIC.
Chairman Greg Medcraft told the Australian Bankers Association in a speech last week that it has “never been more important” to ensure people can make informed financial decisions.
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“We live in a world shaped by fast-paced innovation, digitisation, globalisation and compulsory superannuation,” he said.
“In addition, Australians are living longer, have easier access to credit and have access to increasingly complex financial products.
“We have to make a greater number of financial decisions than ever before and these have a great impact on our lives.”
Mr Medcraft said financial literacy gives people the trust and confidence to participate in financial markets.
“This is a key ingredient of ensuring that our markets can perform their fundamental role in funding the real economy and in turn economic growth – and this contributes to improved standards of living for all Australians,” he said.
Mr Medcraft said one of the five priorities of the National Financial Literacy Strategy, which was released last month, is to ensure that Australians begin learning financial literacy at school.
Another priority is to provide targeted support to meet the needs of specific groups, especially disadvantaged and vulnerable consumers, he said.
It is also important to build partnerships across sectors to expand the reach and impact of programs, he added.
Mr Medcraft said the authorities also needed to provide more free and impartial information, while also doing more research to understand why people make the financial decisions they do.
[Related: Teaching kids the value of money]
