Financial literacy is having a public that is educated and informed on basic financial issues and concepts that are useful in managing money and the family budget and enable them to make reasoned, sensible, stable economic and financial decisions that contribute to their quality of life and to macroeconomic stability.

The Sector’s Strategy for Financial Education

APB’s presentation of the sector’s strategy for financial education
APB publicly announced the banking sector's financial education strategy and introduced the Good Practices, Good Accounts programme, on 25th of January 2012.

In this document the APB has proposed financial literacy programmes common to all the banks organised by area of action and covering the entire country. The aim is to encourage people to follow good practices in managing their family budgets with a view to greater financial stability and therefore better quality of life.

General lines - APB projects

One of the association's goals is to promote a greater financial culture resulting in better use of financial products and services and a more transparent relationship between banks and society. It therefore regards the promotion of financial literacy as a social responsibility project for improving Portuguese people's financial culture. Some initiatives are already under way and others will be starting very soon, including:

• A series of short-term courses for journalists at convenient times to fulfil their needs for information on certain areas and subjects in the sector.
• A website with information about banking, financial products and services that banks offer and the role they play in the country's development, this information being highly educational, especially for families and young people
• Long-term projects for young people ranging from primary to higher education Other actions have been planned, because we feel that educated, informed people make more reasoned, sensible, stable economic and financial decisions that contribute to their quality of life and to macroeconomic stability. These are essential factors for an economic climate favourable to our country's growth and development.