Financial Education Promotion

The investment environment for private investors has changed greatly over the past dozen years with the introduction of defined contribution pension scheme and the implementation of deposit insurance cap on bank deposits. In view of the importance of relying on one’s own decision to select deposit institutions and investment assets, there is a growing need for financial literacy education. Private investors are all the more in need of financial literacy with the introduction of Nippon Individual Savings Accounts (NISA) in 2014.

Since its establishment in 1999 as the Institute of Investment Education, Financial Education Promotion (FEP) has played a role in the SMBC Nikko Securities Group’s CSR activities aimed at helping private investors, working adults, and students acquire correct financial knowledge.

FEP sponsors courses at renowned Japanese universities and is presently engaged in financial/economic educational activities for undergraduate and graduate students who will soon be joining the workforce. Approximately 32,000 students (cumulative total as of March 2023) have thus far completed the courses offered as part of FEP’s educational activities.

A distinctive feature of FEP’s financial educational activities is that the university courses are conducted from start to finish by full-time lecturers with a wealth of practical experience at SMBC Nikko Securities or elsewhere. The approach we have adopted is similar to that of an academic seminar in which full-time lecturers follow a step-by-step lesson plan that takes students from the basics to the advanced.

FEP is working to satisfy the need for courses/lectures at universities, graduate schools and other educational institutions primarily to propagate financial literacy education among persons soon to become full-fledged members of society.

By sponsoring courses with curriculums to match the needs of society and up-to-date with both global economic and monetary policy trends and Japan’s legal and tax systems, FEP is helping to popularize financial/economic education and eventually foster a class of intelligent investors able to sustain Japan’s economy in future.