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3.9 The MNB’s activity in the area of social responsibility
Based on the social responsibility strategy announced in line with the fundamental values and vision set out in its Statutes, the MNB considers serving the public good and providing support for the implementation of value creating objectives of the society as a whole without jeopardising the fulfilment of its basic tasks and to the debit of its sustainable profit as its mission. The main elements of the strategy are the reinforcement of financial literacy, the renewal and enhancement of the system of education (primarily higher education), the training of economists and financial training, supporting scientific activity, the preservation and protection of national cultural values as well as contributions to charitable initiatives. The 2020 achievements in the central bank’s social responsibility activity contributed significantly to meeting these strategic objectives.
The Pallas Athena Public Thinking Programme forms a key element of the MNB’s social responsibility strategy. In the implementation of the programme, the central bank considers it to be its task to enhance financial literacy, financial awareness and the underlying economic and social thinking, as well as the related institutional system and infrastructure. With a view to achieving the defined goals, the MNB works to renew and enhance education (primarily tertiary education) and the system of economics and financial training, and to support scientific activity and financial literacy. The programmes supported by the MNB and its foundations are partly its own initiatives and are partly realised through partnerships with participating institutions.
Higher education programmes and cooperation
As part of implementing the MNB’s corporate social responsibility strategy, the MNB has announced, for the fifth time, the MNB Scholarship of Excellence for students of economics participating in bachelor and master programmes relevant to the central bank’s activity, for the 2020/2021 academic year. In the 2020/2021 academic year, 541 students at 25 Hungarian higher education institutions were granted this scholarship.
In 2020, the MNB renewed its cooperation with the priority partner universities (Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, University of Debrecen) for the 2020/2021 academic year. Regular academic competitions for the students of the partner universities were announced. The cooperation between the MNB and the Corvinus University of Budapest (CORvINUS) has been continuous since 2015 and has become the central bank’s largest education programme over time. The most significant results of this cooperation include the MNB Department, which has been continuing its operation as an independent institute, as the MNB Institute since the summer of 2020 and the Economic Geography, Geoeconomics and Sustainable Development Department operating within the organisation of the Institute for International, Political and Regional Studies.
Similarly to the cooperation with Corvinus, cooperation aimed at implementing various educational projects with prestigious institutions of Hungarian higher education, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and the University of Debrecen (DE) continued during the 2020/2021 academic year. Within the framework of the cooperation with BME, two large professional workshops were established in the first support period: the Digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence and Data Era Workshop as well as the Green Finance and Green Economy Workshop, within the framework of which joint research projects and curriculum development were implemented with the involvement of teachers from BME and experts from the MNB. In the 2019/2020 academic year, within the cooperation with DE, two subjects with renewed content were introduced with great success.
The transformation of the MNB’s higher education cooperation with institutions other than the priority partners into a horizontal programme is in progress under the title ‘University network for sustainable development’.
The MNB is actively involved in the ʻEastern Opening’ policy announced by the Government of Hungary, and assists the settlement of the Fudan University in Hungary. In order to strengthen these efforts, Chinese research groups in Hungary and priority actors were supported by the MNB, and a cooperation agreement was concluded in 2020 between the ʻModern Far East Research Group’ operating at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and the MNB. The primary objective of the operation of the Oriental Business and Innovation Center (OBIC) founded by the MNB and the Budapest Business School is to support the training of young professionals (economists, international relations experts) who speak Eastern Asian languages and know the culture and economy of Eastern Asian countries and regions.
In cooperation with John von Neumann University and as a dual corporate partner, the MNB participates in the training of students in Business Management courses. In
this scheme, 45 students completed their traineeship at various functional areas and subsidiaries of the MNB.
With the professional participation of the MNB, as an incentive for the continuing education of the Tiszaroff sub-region the ‘Tiszaroff Scholarship Tender’ has been announced each year since 2015 to support students in higher education. Under the title ‘Tiszaroff Further Education Scholarship Tender’, in 2017 the programme was extended to the support of the studies of high school students. In the spring semester of the 2019/2020 academic year 53 university students (including 5 PhD students) and 20 high-school students won scholarships, while in the autumn semester of the 2020/2021 academic year 54 university students (including 6 PhD students) and 24 highschool students won scholarships.
Financial education for the public
The MNB created its Financial Navigator information system to develop the financial awareness of the adult population. The objective of the wide range of instruments is to reach the highest possible number of people and call attention to typical situations of financial decision-making as well as the aspects and risks to be considered. The Financial Navigator information contents are accessible via financial consumer protection websites, search algorithms and calculators assisting the selection of products, short films, mobile applications as well as a series of printed booklets. The advisers of the Financial Navigator Advisory Office Network are at the public’s disposal with tailor-made, free advice in 18 county seats.
The Financial Navigator website presents the features of various financial services and products, emphasising the importance of gathering information and comparing products and service providers in hundreds of articles. In 2020, a comprehensive revision of the contents published on the website resulted in the updating of some 190 website articles. In addition, a new menu item – Family Green Finance – was also added to the website. With the help of the ecological footprint calculator available there, it is possible to calculate the impact of a given household’s consumption habits on the environment, i.e. its individual ecological footprint. To reduce this footprint, the website offers various pieces of practical advice and useful information.
Well-informed decisions as well as comparisons of products and service providers are assisted by the product search features and calculators available free-of-charge on the Financial Navigator website, including country-wide branch and ATM search, bank account selector, credit calculator, deposit calculator, household budget calculator, loan and lease selector, deposit selector applications, etc.
A large portion of the Financial Navigator contents is easy to use, can be tailored to individual needs and is available on a mobile application as well that can be run on both iOS and Android systems. The Financial Navigator mobile application facilitates the comfortable, fast collection of information, among other things, with the latest news and exchange rate data, the embedded versions of online search engines and calculators, a customer service appointment reservation function and a financial dictionary. In the spirit of edutainment, the MNB published financial educational questions on the web and mobile application platform of a popular Hungarian online strategic quiz in 2020 as well.
Financial Navigator Papers
A continuously expanding series of thematic booklets consisting of 38 parts, which were renewed both in terms of content and graphics in 2020, is available for those who gather information from printed publications. The free Financial Navigator Papers are available at the MNB’s customer service, branches of banks and mutual savings banks, the customer service offices of insurance companies and cooperating Government Customer Service Offices as well as from cooperating civil society organisations, in a network of more than 100 institutions in total. Based on preliminary assessment of needs, more than 1.7 million copies of the revised publications were produced. The publications are available in digital format as well on the MNB’s Financial Navigator website.
Financial Navigator Advisory Office Network
In order to enhance the public’s financial culture, the MNB operates the Financial Navigator Advisory Office Network (FNAON) in 18 county seats. The offices are operated by civil society organisations, which are independent of financial institutions and service providers. The advisers give unbiased, professional and free financial advice for consumers in person, on the phone as well as electronically and by post. The objective of the advisory service, which is under the MNB’s continuous professional control, is to allow consumers to request an independent expert opinion before their financial decisions as well as to receive assistance in drafting and submitting official documents, applications and complaint letters. In order to prevent and reduce the risks of the coronavirus, from 13 March 2020 until 8 June 2020 the MNB suspended personal advising in the Financial Navigator Advisory Offices as well as the
