TOKYO \u2013 How financially literate are the 15-year-olds of Singapore and Japan compared with those of other countries? Are they as skilled in navigating money matters as they are at applying their knowledge to solve real-world problems?<\/p>\n
These are questions the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organisation of developed nations, wants to find out.<\/p>\n
Ensuring financial literacy among youth and strengthened cyberdefences is among the key priorities of the OECD amid the growing importance of digital finance, according to two reports released in Tokyo on June 18 and 19.<\/p>\n
While the two Asian countries consistently dominate the OECD\u2019s triennial global benchmarking study of 15-year-olds on mathematics, science and reading, they are conspicuously absent from an optional financial literacy component of the survey.<\/p>\n
In the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Singapore swept the top spot across all three categories<\/a>, while Japan ranked fifth in mathematics, second in science, and third in reading. Results for PISA 2025 are due for release on Sept 8.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a broader call that we\u2019re doing with all governments because it\u2019s important to have numbers, comparable data, which can then be used to focus policy actions, especially when resources are scarce,\u201d Carmine Di Noia, the OECD\u2019s director of financial and enterprise affairs, told The Straits Times on June 18.<\/p>\n The urgency comes as more youth worldwide are dabbling in financial investments at an increasingly younger age, Di Noia said on the sidelines of the annual Tokyo Roundtable on Capital Market and Financial Reform in Asia.\u00a0<\/p>\n He pointed out that some young people have jumped into high-risk products like cryptocurrencies via smartphones without fully grasping the dangers of potential volatility. By doing so, they are also more vulnerable to scams.<\/p>\n The next PISA financial literacy assessment is in 2029.<\/p>\n The education ministries of Singapore and Japan, however, have said such assessments are not the only way to measure success\u00a0in their financial literacy education.<\/p>\n Singapore\u2019s Education Minister Desmond Lee, in a written parliamentary reply to a question by MP Gerald Giam of Aljunied GRC on May 6, noted that many PISA-participating regions do not opt for the financial literacy module.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are mindful in our choice of PISA options to avoid overloading our schools and students with international benchmarking studies,\u201d Lee said, adding that his ministry and MoneySense, Singapore\u2019s national financial education programme, regularly monitor the financial literacy levels of youth in Singapore.<\/p>\n \u201cOur surveys show that most secondary school students have age-appropriate financial literacy, such as knowing the difference between needs and wants, understanding concepts like compound interest and inflation, and appreciating the importance of saving and budgeting,\u201d Lee added.<\/p>\n Financial literacy is taught in Singapore schools by including relevant concepts across subjects such as character and citizenship, as well as mathematics.<\/p>\n Over in Japan, financial literacy education has since April 2022 been made compulsory from elementary to high school, with the curriculum ranging from basic money management for younger pupils to complex asset building and market investments for older students.<\/p>\n Yet, the OECD believes that a standardised global index will help countries understand where they stand in an increasingly critical field.<\/p>\n Di Noia said the data will allow countries to design more effective safety nets and share best educational practices in the era of digital finance.<\/p>\n While the benefits of digital finance outweigh the harms, it is clearly a double-edged sword: Smartphones have made it easier for users to invest by trading global stocks or cross-border currencies with a few taps, but have concurrently opened the door to cyberthreats by bad actors.<\/p>\n In one of the two reports released in Tokyo, the OECD observed a sharp surge in cyberincidents as geopolitical tensions rise, driven by both state and non-state actors who target financial institutions to exert strategic pressure or reap illicit profits.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consequences are multifaceted: cyberattacks compromise proprietary data, disrupt essential payment systems, trigger operational breakdowns, and erode trust which is a cornerstone of stable financial markets,\u201d it warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe digital economy\u2019s growing reliance on interconnected platforms amplifies these risks, requiring concerted policy responses and international regulatory cooperation,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The report singled out ASEAN as a potential casualty of geopolitical cyberrisks, given how it is deeply embedded in global value chains and relies heavily on cross-border logistics, trade finance and increasingly digitalised financial services.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operational shocks linked with cyberrisks can spill over rapidly across firms and borders,\u201d it said, noting that developing economies must also be treated as critical nodes.<\/p>\n This is especially so in an era where so-called frontier artificial intelligence models can accelerate cybercrime if exploited by bad actors.<\/p>\n