With the aim of equipping teachers with scientifically documented knowledge, modern examples, and practical teaching tools, so that they can contribute substantially to cultivating critical thinking, a responsible attitude, and students’ ability to make rational financial decisions, the Bank of Greece organized this year, for the second consecutive year, a training seminar for economics education teachers on the topic: “Financial literacy of adolescents: Digital payments, fraud and gambling”.
The seminar was held on the initiative of the competent Directorate of the Bank of Greece (Centre for Culture, Research and Documentation – KEPoET), in cooperation with the Central Council of the Union of Economists Teachers of Secondary Education.
At the seminar – which took place on Friday, 4 September 2026, in the renovated Bank building at 16 Sina Street – invited guests were teachers of the PE80 Economics branch and those who teach economics courses in secondary education (general and vocational), and the main objectives of its proceedings were:
- understanding the evolution of digital payments and their role in the daily lives of adolescents,
- providing information on modern forms of digital fraud,
- raising awareness on issues of cybersecurity and responsible internet use,
- highlighting the risks associated with online gambling and cultivating a critical stance toward it,
- approaching youth through its biological, psychological and social dimensions, as well as
- highlighting ways of integrating the above topics into teaching practice, making use of experiential and participatory methods.
At the seminar, which was conducted with both in-person and online attendance, the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, first delivered a greeting, noting, with reference to young people, that “it is our duty to equip them with the knowledge, the skills and the qualities that will allow them tomorrow to navigate successfully in this present, as well as any new environment. We cannot predict which application students will be using in a few years.
We do not know what form payments will take, what the new technologies will be, or what new typologies of fraud will emerge. We can, however, give them something far more valuable: to endow them with the tendency and the ability to think before they decide, to question before they trust, and to evaluate before they choose.
This is, ultimately, the core of financial literacy, and perhaps one of the most important assets that school can offer today. Education must be continuous and adapt to developments in society”.
Immediately afterwards, the President of the Central Council of the Union of Economists Teachers of Secondary Education, Sophia Takaoglou, characteristically stated: “We come here today with full awareness of what is at stake. Our students are growing up in an environment where money has become invisible. They pay with a movement of the finger, transact within games and applications, and are exposed to investment “opportunities” advertised by people they trust.
At the same time, reported incidents of electronic fraud in our country have multiplied in just a few years, while manipulation techniques are becoming ever more sophisticated. This is no longer a matter of technical knowledge; it is a matter of critical thinking and emotional resilience”.
This educational initiative is part of the Bank of Greece’s broader effort to strengthen financial literacy. As Manos Kordakis, Deputy Director of KEPoET, stated, the period we are going through is shaping “a volatile and pressing environment, where information never ends, while platforms push us to move incessantly from one post to another. It is within this environment that adolescents navigate today, make financial decisions, buy, play, and are deceived”.
During the proceedings of the meeting, which was coordinated by Giorgos Seferlis, an official of the Museum and Collections Department of KEPoET, the speakers had the opportunity to highlight different aspects of the topic, contributing to a multifaceted approach to it.
At the same time, the seminar was also followed online by teachers from all over Greece, who likewise had the opportunity to participate with questions, just like the participants attending in person. The online management of the seminar was handled by Eleftheria Georgoulea, also from the Bank of Greece’s KEPoET.
Initially, Giorgos Korfiatis, Deputy Director of the Bank of Greece’s Payment Systems Directorate, spoke about the rapidly changing landscape of digital payments, while Giorgos Tsiatouras, from the Financial Stability Directorate, referred to the risks adolescents face in the modern digital environment and the most common forms of electronic fraud targeting them.
Then, Konstantinos Mythymis, from the Cybercrime Division of the Hellenic Police, focused on informing and raising awareness about modern forms of online fraud, the protection of personal data, and the actions that should be followed in the event that someone falls victim to fraud.
Subsequently, Vasilis Panagiotidis, Senior Director at the Hellenic Bank Association, focused on forms of investment fraud that have been on the rise recently, while Dimitris Mylonas, Education Consultant and Education Quality Supervisor of the Ministry of Education, referred to modern curricula and the new secondary education school textbooks that promote students’ financial literacy.
Then Angelos Nanos, Head of the Directorate of Market Compliance and Combating Illegal Gambling of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, focused on the challenges created by the digital transformation of society in the gambling market, as well as on the modern regulatory challenges his body is called upon to address for the effective protection of minors and vulnerable groups.
Afterwards, Dr Ioannis Sigalas, child psychiatrist, examined adolescence as a normal developmental transitional period from childhood to adulthood, through its biological, psychological and social framework.
Finally, Maria Karvounopoulou and Christina Linardaki, both officials of KEPoET, presented the teaching tools developed by the Museum of the Bank of Greece for approaching complex economic and financial concepts, and referred to the Bank’s publication series “All for one, economy for all”, which includes student books for lower and upper secondary school, as well as corresponding teacher guides, while Alexandros Stylos, Deputy Director of the Bank’s Communication Unit, presented weconomy.gr, the new financial education website of the Bank of Greece.
The seminar concluded with a guided tour of the Bank’s Museum, at 3 Amerikis Street, where the educational exhibition “Personal Finance” is presented.