Roundtable Held on Topic of Importance of Counseling and Financial Education from Perspective of Ombudsmen and Counselors
A member of the World Bank Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in cooperation with the Banking System Ombudsmen’s Offices in the Banking Agency of the Federation of BiH (FBA) and in the Banking Agency of the Republika Srpska, held today, November 07th, 2019, in Sarajevo, a roundtable on the topic of the importance of counseling and financial education from the perspective of the Ombudsmen and financial counselors. The roundtable was attended by more than 25 counselors and civil servants responsible for counseling and financial education of the citizens from the different municipalities of the Federation of BiH and of the RS. Understanding of the importance of counseling and financial education is a very important process for knowledge acquisition in the field of financial consumer rights and interests protection.
"The Ombudsman’s Office has been undertaking activities on an ongoing basis to improve financial knowledge of financial consumers. It is extremely important to work systematically on awareness raising of financial literacy, financial consumer rights and overall on awareness raising of all risks associated with financial services in the market. I am convinced that the work with the specialist services at the level of local communities, which are closest to the citizens, can contribute to the enhancement and to the importance of financial counseling“ highlighted the FBiH Banking System Ombudsman, Lejla Smajovic.
The roundtable is part of the activities of "Microfinance Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina", which is implemented by the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Realizing the need for and importance of educating the citizens, the Ombudsman’s Office, in cooperation with the IFC, will still continue to work on the financial education of both citizens and civil servants responsible for their counseling.