Hungary

10 Years of GMW | Global Money Week Annual Report 2022 Hungary

GMW national coordinator: Ministry of Human Capacities, Ministry of Finance, Ministry for Innovation and Technology, Money Compass Foundation (MCF - founded by the Central Bank), Hungarian Banking Association, Junior Achievement Hungary Participating organisations: banks, insurance companies, entrepreneurs, foundations, ministries, universities, schools Total number of participating organisations: 1,207 Number of children and young people reached directly: 215,005 Number of adults reached directly: 30,000 Number of people reached indirectly: 600,000

The success of the Money Week (PÉNZ7) programme was made possible through the close co-operation of public and private organisations. Since 2015, the initiative has grown into a public financial education programme reaching over 1,400,000 schoolchildren. In 2022, more than 170,000 students from 1,000 schools joined GMW, which is very special because the topics discussed cover not only finances, but also focus on entrepreneurial skills. Successful entrepreneurs also support GMW as volunteers. The Money Museum was inaugurated by the National Bank in March.

With the support of MCF, 500 schools received printed financial education materials, while others had the option to download them for their classes from the PÉNZ7 website. MCF organised a number of competitions such as the “PénzOkos Kupa” (the MoneySmart Cup), a team competition for students in ages 10-14, “BankCode” a team competition for students in ages 14-18, “Részvényfutam” (Stock Run), organised jointly with the Budapest Stock Exchange, with real prices quoted in the BSE and virtual money, and “ZsetON” a financial quiz organised jointly with the Ministry of Finance for secondary school and university students.

It is emblematic that the Minister of Finance and the Deputy Governor of the National Bank held special classes in schools.

MCF operated a financial treasure hunt “MoneyGo” for students, where the aim of the game was to find targets in Budapest and solve financial tasks. The finance-themed textbooks of the Foundation were supplemented with AR (augmented reality) illustrations, which, using a mobile app, come alive, making the textbooks more interactive. A new web application was also released under the name of “MoneySim”, a financial simulation programme for students where players can choose specific life situations that require them to make financial decisions.

During the JAM Innovation Days, students came up with innovative ideas aimed at solving environmental and social problems. One specific challenge was to come up with a modular product design with the concept of circular economy in mind, and the solution provided was a special food container. During the competitions, nearly 250 students were assisted by 51 professional mentors.

Youth also took part in the European Money Quiz, Europe’s largest financial literacy competition, originally launched in Hungary by the Hungarian Banking Association. FinLit quizzes, which are linked to EMQ, were played 17,264 times by 129,930 players since 2018.

In 2022, the Hungarian Banking Association launched another quiz challenge as an edutainment programme linked to training material focussing on the topic of digital security under the slogan “Be smarter than a hacker!” The competition draws the attention of users by highlighting the need to be careful in cyberspace.

The Fintelligence Conference involved professionals from higher education and businesses to promote the advancement of financial literacy. Lecturers and presenters, such as the State Secretary of Finance and banking professionals shared call for action by the representatives of commercial and business fields, with the aim of promoting financial literacy. The international event held a formal awards ceremony, where the “Ambassador of Financial Literacy Awards” were handed over by the Hungarian Banking Association, on the occasion of GMW.

The video of the official GMW opening ceremony is available here.