16 January 2016, Budapest – In cooperation with four leading institutions of higher education specializing in economics the MNB has launched a tender for the students of the four participating universities, which aims to develop financial literacy and awareness of Hungarian consumers and is entitled: “Financial affairs on a higher level – Be creative!”
The top priority of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) is to further strengthen financial consumer protection, and by achieving that to improve financial awareness and literacy. To promote financial awareness, the central bank will launch a tender together with four local, leading institutions of higher education specializing in economics (Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest Business School, University of Miskolc and the Pallas Athéné University in Kecskemét).
The procurers of the “Financial affairs on a higher level – Be creative!” tender will invite the students of the universities participating in the tender to create a creative concept, based on proper market research in one of the given topics. The presented concept must have the capacity to reach a wide range of financial consumers in a cost effective manner. The students can choose from the following four topics: “Responsible borrowing; Changing banks consciously/choosing a bank account consciously; Promoting the Securities Account Query Application (ÉSZLA); and Investment funds – real estate fund.”
In regards to the applications, it is a highly important aspect among others that implementing them should entail the availability of a wide array of consumers. The proposal must be novel, interesting and shall be based on real market research. Applications may be submitted by groups of one to three. Applications shall be submitted to the Financial Consumer Protection Center of the MNB until 4 p.m., 16 March 2017. For more information on the tender please visit the following link: www.mnb.hu/fogyasztovedelem/civil-halo/otletpalyazat.
Following the evaluation, the creators of the top 5 applications will have a chance to present their ideas in person by way of a presentation. Subsequently, a professional jury will choose the best three. The winners will receive a cash prize from the MNB (the first prize winner will be awarded HUF 500 thousand per university). Following this decision the jury will examine the feasibility of the concepts and whether they may be integrated into the central bank’s consumer protection activities.
The “Financial affairs on a higher level – Be creative!” tender is a new experiment on the MNB’s part to include the new generation – their ideas, initiatives – in the development strategy aiming at the further development of the Hungarian consumers’ financial literacy and consciousness. If the initiative proves to be successful, it will most likely be extended to include the entire country.
As publicly known, thanks to the Civil Network program, the MNB is already working with external partners – financial consumer protection non-profit organizations – to operate financial consultancy offices in the county towns of Hungary, to offer financial consumer protection trainings and to publish materials, amongst many other projects.
Magyar Nemzeti Bank