AM PARTNERS

In 2013, the Committee in charge of the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Financial Education developed the Republic of Armenia (RA) National Strategy for Financial Education (NSFE) Project. The development of RA NSFE was envisaged by 2012-2013 activities ensuring the implementation of EU-Armenia European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan and RA Central Bank 2011-2013 Strategy.

The RA NSFE states that the World Bank-supported survey in 2012 on the Financial Capability in Armenia (which as well was conducted by AM Partners Consulting Company) enables to have a rough understanding about the financial capability of the population and is not entirely adjusted to the requirements of RA NSFE as a monitoring tool for its implementation. Hence, this document would serve as survey methodology, which would make possible to gauge the measurable goals of NSFE and conduct monitoring. In this context, the development of the methodology for the assessment of the financial capability of the RA population aimed at:   

• Creating a simple and universal tool to regularly assess the financial capability of the RA population and to ensure public accountability,  
• Possessing objective and thorough information about the issues related to the financial capability in Armenia with a view to design and implement targeted and urgent actions aimed at the enhancement of the financial capability of the population,
• Ensuring baseline data for the monitoring and assessment of the implementation of the activities targeted at the enhancement of the financial capability of the RA population.   

The Methodology for the Assessment of the Financial Capability of the RA Population represents a set of solutions and includes the following constituents required for the assessment of the financial capability of the population:

1. Clear and thorough description of financial capability/literacy and its elements (knowledge, skills, attitude and behavior), based on modern concepts of financial capability and the analysis of best practices. Correct or acceptable description determines the content of the questionnaire - the tool of the survey to be conducted for the assessment of the financial capability.
2. Description of the minimum characteristics required of a financially literate person, which enables to compare the survey results to the criteria set.
3. Development of the Questionnaire - the tool of the survey to be conducted for the assessment of financial capability, which enables to obtain all the information required for the assessment of the financial capability of the population.
4. Generation of the sub-indices matrix and complete index of the financial capabilities of the population, which allows to digitize the responses to the questions in the questionnaire and convert the assessment of the financial capability to a measurable indicator using it for the achievement of the goals set.   
5. Defining the sample of the survey to be conducted for the assessment of the financial capability and the method for data collection; this will enable to deem the survey findings representative for the entire population of Armenia.

At the end of 2014, RA Central Bank using the methodology developed by AM Partners, conducted the first survey on the assessment of the financial capability of the RA population, the results of which were disclosed to the public in April, 2015.