The Role of Knowing Financial Concepts when Forming an Individual’s Attitude Towards Banks

Abstract

In the post-financial crisis’ times when financial institutions, especially banks, face the problem of regaining a trustful relationship with their customers, it is of great importance to acknowledge all the possible factors influencing possible attitudes of an individual towards banks. Attitude as a concept is somehow not fully defined from the theoretical point of view, empirically, however, it can be measured and observed indirectly through assessing behavioural characteristics of the individual. The purpose of the paper is to look into attitudes of the student population towards banks. We find the knowledge about this customer segment very important for many decision-makers, e.g. banks, financial markets, and lastly, for policy makers in the field of economic and educational policy. Moreover, financial knowledge is of key importance here and it is believed that only an institutional approach can be a sound base for adequate education in the field of finances on different educational levels, covering the whole educational vertical, from pre-school to post-graduate studies and other educational programmes, that would provide individuals with knowledge and competences to adequately and rationally asses the financial products, understand financial markets and stability. Consequently, the space for over-indebtedness, financial scams, extortion and other dubious practices could be diminished and the financial panic with its possible undesirable consequences among general population could be avoided.