Eurosystem financial literacy network 

Financial literacy is crucial for Europeans to successfully navigate the complexities of today’s financial landscape.

The Eurosystem financial literacy network was created after the ECB’s International Women’s Day 2025 event, focused on delivering the following 5 commitments:

1. Be a voice for change and keep raising awareness in the respective countries, institutions and communities.
2. Strengthen impact measurement of financial literacy initiatives by developing common evaluation criteria and indicators to systematically assess what works in closing the gender gap.
3. Design and implement targeted financial literacy initiatives specifically for women, addressing key life stages and barriers where the gender gap is most pronounced, in order to measurably reduce disparities in financial knowledge, confidence and participation.
4. Develop a comprehensive and harmonised dataset across Europe, extend data collection to countries that lack these data and create standardised measures for financial literacy.
5. Enhance financial literacy efforts in three key teachable moments of a person’s life: (i) early education, (ii) taking out a major loan (e.g. buying a house or starting a business), and (iii) building a pension.

This year's ECB’s International Women’s Day event takes place on March 2nd 2026.

President Lagarde, panellists and participating national central bank Governors will discuss the financial literacy gap in Europe, building on last year’s theme. The event showcases the progress made on the following five commitments agreed in 2025, highlighting achievements and calling for further coordinated action across the Eurosystem.