The students Álvaro Vieira de Castro, from Escola Básica Júlio Brandão, in Vila Nova de Famalicão, and Lucas Lagarto, from Escola Básica D. Duarte, in Viseu, are the big winners of the 2021 European Money Quiz National Final and will now represent Portugal in the European final, in April.

"My generation has the obligation to make a committed effort so that we can grow up with the capacity to see, call attention to, and mitigate the financial risks involved in our decisions, both individual and collective", says Álvaro Vieira de Castro, who won the 1st place in the national competition, held on March 22nd last. The 14-year old student highlights the "extreme educational importance of this initiative", stating that the most important thing is not to win but to learn.

Lucas Lagarto, a 9th year student from Escola Básica D. Duarte, in Viseu, came in second place, and he too stresses the interest and educational virtues of the quiz. “I see this experience as a shock that wakes you up and prepares you for the world we will live in tomorrow, as adults, where, among many other things, we will need financial literacy in order to "survive".

The quiz's 1st qualifying round involved more than 2,000 3rd cycle students from 40 schools nationwide, with the two best players from each school being shortlisted for the National Final.

"The schools’ broad participation in yet another edition of the APB financial literacy quiz shows their recognition of the importance of this theme in the education of their students", says Rita Machado, head of the APB Financial Education Project. She adds that "APB and the banking sector are committed to contributing to raising young people's awareness so that their future financial choices are more informed and responsible".

Due to the constraints imposed by the current pandemic context, the National Final of the quiz was broadcast online, through APB's Youtube, channel, and was watched live by over 250 people, mostly students and teachers in distance learning.

In the national competition, students had to answer 20 questions on budget management and planning, money and transactions, risk and financial literacy.

The national winners will now compete against the best from 25 countries in the European final, which takes place on 20 Aparil and where a cash prize will be awarded to the winning students' school.

Created by the European Banking Federation (EBF) in 2018, the European Money Quiz is a competition that aims to test the financial literacy of 13 to 15-year-olds.

For the fourth consecutive year, the APB, which is a member of the EBF, joins this initiative, which in Portugal alone has already put more than 7,000 students playing the quiz.

As part of the European Money Week, which is celebrated this week, APB also promoted an information session on the characteristics and functionalities of bank loans, for secondary school and university students.

This was the first session of a cycle of information sessions on how the financial system works, which we intend to develop in the coming months, for young people, who will have their first contact with banks in the near future.

The session "Credit: what is it and how does it work?" was attended by 400 secondary school students from 14 schools across the country.