Strengthening Financial Literacy in Germany

4. Governance

The OECD Recommendation on Financial Literacy (OECD, 2020[4]) encourages governments to set up an appropriate governance structure to implement their national financial literacy strategies. German authorities are invited to define the most appropriate governance structure, respecting the responsibilities of the federal government and of the states.

Leading authority or governing mechanism

Characteristics

The Strategy’s governance should identify a credible and unbiased leading authority or governing mechanism, which would be recognised at the highest policy level and have responsibility for the implementation, the monitoring, and the evaluation of the Strategy. Such an authority or mechanism should be provided with:

• A long-term vision, ideally enshrined in its mandate

• Stability, credibility, and independence

• Adequate human and financial resources

• Professional expertise.

This would contribute to the sustainability of the Strategy over time, in line with the long-term nature of financial literacy policies.

Functions

The leading authority or governing mechanism should be responsible for the implementation of the Strategy, and would act as a central coordinator, respecting the responsibilities of the federal government and of the states. In this regard, it should be able to carry out the following functions:

• Draw annual action plans to guide the implementation of the Strategy.

• Effectively coordinate the Strategy’s implementation by liaising and consulting with financial literacy stakeholders at the federal, state, and local levels. This would notably require the capacity to set up advisory committees as required.

In addition, the leading authority or governing mechanism should be responsible for the implementation of measures contributing to the Strategy’s implementation, such as:

• Design financial literacy content, ranging from pedagogical resources to the organisation of awareness campaigns.

• Operate the national financial literacy platform.

Finally, the authority or mechanism should facilitate effective dialogue among the federal government, the states, and other public and private stakeholders.