On 31 January 2013, the FSMA launched a financial education programme with its own brand, Wikifin.be. One month from the launch, www.wikifin.be has already received in excess of 200,000 visits.
Jean-Paul Servais, Chairman of the FSMA stated: "Contributing to the financial education of consumers is one of the tasks entrusted to the Financial Services and Markets Authority by the Belgian legislature. One of the FSMA's key objectives is to equip consumers with reliable information and simple tools to help them with their financial decisions. It is for this reason that the FSMA has developed its own brand and a financial education website, Wikifin.be. The fact that since Wikifin.be was launched on 31 January 2013, it has already attracted over 200,000 visits from 150,000 visitors, with no advertising campaign, demonstrates the keen interest that citizens have for financial matters".
More than 5,500 visitors have in the meantime signed up for the Wikifin newsletter. They received the first edition of the newsletter with handy tips on mortgage lending and property investment to coincide with Batibouw.
More than 100,000 visitors have also used the savings account simulator to compare how their savings would grow with different financial institutions. The savings account simulator was launched at the end of January in the presence of the Minister of Economy and Consumer Affairs, Johan Vande Lanotte amongst others. The simulator, which will lead to the enhanced transparency of savings accounts, is one of the tools already available on the Wikifin.be portal.
This portal is aimed at offering all citizens neutral, reliable and practical information on all sorts of money-related matters, from saving to investing, and from borrowing to insurance.
The portal continues to grow and will soon offer a new design centred around important stages of life such as studying, marriage, and retirement. An advertising campaign will also be launched with the goal of converting Wikifin.be into a household name.
The FSMA also wishes to raise awareness at an educational level and provide teaching materials for students and teachers in cooperation with the pertinent political authorities.
You can visit the new financial education portal www.wikifin.be and keep up with news and events on Twitter @wikifin_FR