David Rath and Alex Jacewicz beat competition from over 2,000 students to represent Ireland in the European finals of Europe’s largest financial education competition
April 2023 – Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), with the support of the Business Studies Teacher’s Association of Ireland (BSTAI), is delighted to announce the winners of the Irish Final of the European Money Quiz 2023. David Rath and Alex Jacewicz, second year students at Douglas Community School Cork, beat competition from over 2,000 students across the country to represent Ireland in the European finals in Brussels on the 16th of May.
The European Money Quiz is a Europe’s largest financial education competition which aims to promote financial literacy among students aged between 13-15 year olds. The European finals event will see teams of two from 28 countries play directly against each other in a live final in a bid to become European champions and share in a prize fund of €5,000 for their school. The final will be hosted by the European Banking Federation of which BPFI is a member.
Since the inauguration of the quiz in 2018 Ireland has performed exceptionally well, securing a podium spot in the top three European teams on three occasions.
Jim O’Keeffe, President of BPFI and AIB Managing Director of Retail Banking stated: “This year we had over 2,000 students from over 80 schools across Ireland register for the Irish finals of the European Money Quiz, so the winning students did exceptionally well to get through. BPFI is delighted to be sponsoring the winners to go to Brussels and take part in the European Championship in person this year. The European Money Quiz is a really important annual event on our calendar that encourages young people to think about money and finance from both a personal and business perspective, while the real-time competition brings a bit of fun to the learning experience. We wish Cork duo David and Alex the very best of luck.”
Pat Barry, Principal of Douglas Community School added: “Understanding and learning about money
and finance is really important for young people. It is something we strongly encourage within the
school. We are tremendously proud of David and Alex’s success and the entire school community is fully supportive of them and hopes that they will do well in Brussels in May. Brussels is at the heart of business and financial services in Europe and it is a great opportunity for the students to experience the city, hear from some of Europe’s top financial experts and meet other students from across Europe.”
The European Money Quiz is part of European Money Week (EMW), a joint initiative between the European Banking Federation and 30 banking associations across Europe – including BPFI, which aims to boost financial literacy levels and raise awareness on the benefits of financial education.
ENDS/
Note: Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) represents the banking, payments and fintech sector in Ireland. Together with its affiliates, the Federation of International Banks in Ireland, and the Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland, BPFI has over 125 member institutions and associates, including licensed domestic and foreign banks and institutions operating in the financial marketplace here.
Contact: Fiona Murphy, Head of Communications, 087 9740046, fiona.murphy@bpfi.ie or Jillian Heffernan, Director of Communications, 087 9016880, jillian.heffernan@bpfi.ie.
