The Minister of Education and Employment, Evarist Bartolo, and a team from the Ministry of Education met the chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange Joseph Portelli and his staff and discussed ways in which the Exchange could work with the Ministry in order to increase the level of financial literacy in Malta. The financial service sector was also discussed, with emphasis on how to ensure that students and graduates entering into the working environment will be equipped with the right skills and professional qualifications in order to support the growing financial services sector.

The Minister expressed his support for setting up a committee between the Ministry and the Exchange to explore and implement ways to further financial education in Malta's school system.

Initiatives such as encouraging students to participate in investing, competitions and clubs and offering investment courses at the Exchange were discussed.

It was agreed that more work needs to be done particularly at an early age to foster a greater awareness among students of the importance of sound personnel finance and how to manage an investment portfolio effectively.

The Exchange will shortly be embarking on a number of initiatives, such as the organisation of an Investor Education Conference to be held on 24 October. It already uses its Facebook page and will shortly also embrace various media such as TV and radio shows, among others, in order to get educational information to the public.