A national initiative · Flemish and French Communities
Financial literacy belongs in the timetable.
We give Belgian secondary schools ready-to-teach lessons on saving, borrowing, budgeting and risk — free, non-commercial, in Dutch and French. Built on five years of classroom-tested material from the Financial Times' Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign.
Up to six sessions a year, across the six years of secondary school — phased into the curriculum in agreement with the education authorities.
Belgium raised awareness. The next step is capability.
Public bodies have built a solid base — the FSMA's Wikifin platform above all. But knowing where to find information is not the same as knowing what to do with it, and the surveys keep pointing the same way.
Belgians have only very limited basic financial knowledge.
Report having none at all — with gaps between age groups, and between men and women.
The European Commission and the OECD publish a joint financial competence framework for children and young people.
Figures from a recent ING consumer survey. Survey methodologies differ, but the findings point to persistent gaps in financial capability — gaps that track wider social inequalities in access to savings, resilience to financial shocks and long-term security.
Meanwhile the decisions got harder: digital payments, new products, individual retirement planning. Choices that barely existed a generation ago now arrive with the first pay slip.
We don't build another platform. We support the teacher.
This initiative complements existing public efforts rather than duplicating Wikifin. Its focus is narrow and practical: what happens in the classroom, and what a teacher needs to walk in prepared.
- A
Help teachers deliver financial education inside the existing curriculum.
- B
Provide ready-to-use teaching material adapted to Belgian curricula.
- C
Build practical financial decision-making skills among students.
- D
Strengthen long-term financial capability and resilience among young people.
Four principles, non-negotiable.
All content stays consistent with existing public financial education, including Wikifin and other public resources.
Structured lesson plans, classroom exercises, case studies and teacher guides — not general awareness campaigns.
Strictly non-commercial and independent of product promotion. No sponsor influences pedagogical content. Ever.
Material designed to work across diverse school types and socio-economic backgrounds, with accessibility and equal opportunity in mind.
Five years of UK classroom testing, offered to Belgium free of charge.
Our programme is built on material developed by the Financial Times through its Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign. It has been taught, tested and refined in UK schools over the past five years, and will be adapted to the needs of pupils in the Belgian context.
The FT has offered free access to everything produced under FLIC, and waived copyright — the material was developed in-house. That is a considerable saving in time and money, and it means Belgian schools start from a proven base rather than a blank page.
FT FLIC stays close during roll-out: a source of regularly updated content, and a partner for guidance and feedback.
- Lesson slides
- Written material
- Short-form video
- Social content
- Teacher guides
- LanguagesDutch and French
- Cost to schoolsNone
- CopyrightWaived by the Financial Times
- FormatUp to 6 sessions of 50 minutes per school year
- Sourceftflic.com
Financial TimesFinancial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign
Financial Times and FLIC are trademarks of The Financial Times Limited, used here to credit the origin of the teaching material. This initiative is independent and not endorsed by the Financial Times.
Three phases, three school years.
Each phase is conditional on evidence and on the support of the relevant education authorities. Students are assessed before and immediately after the scheme of work, so the case for the next phase is built on data rather than enthusiasm.
Two or three schools
A pilot across the Flemish and French Communities, with a select number of classes. Two schools have already given preliminary agreement. Induction and support packages go to school management and teaching staff before sessions begin; first contacts are made with the relevant ministries.
A wider group, all six years
With authority support, the programme extends to a broader set of schools selected with their guidance, covering each of the six secondary years. Data collection continues throughout to drive improvements.
Nationwide access
Wider uptake of the curriculum and nationwide access, with a programme fully endorsed by the respective Ministries of Education.
- Distribute material to non-classroom settings, including under-served communities, to help destigmatise conversations about money.
- Serve as the Belgian beachhead for the international expansion of FT FLIC.
A non-profit, kept deliberately small.
The promoters are giving their own time to Phase 1. Alongside it we are raising a limited amount of seed funding to constitute the initiative as an ASBL/VZW — the structure that guarantees transparency, accountability and independence — and to secure basic technical and administrative support.
From Phase 2 we recruit a small professional team: a full-time Programme Director, several part-time assistants, and the technical support the platform needs.
We are also seeking a Belgian media partner to play the role the Financial Times plays for FLIC in the UK. Initial contacts have been made. Such a partnership is crucial both to promote the mission and to provide in-kind support: articles, special reports, coverage and events.
Covers a full-time Programme Director, part-time teachers, pedagogical advisors, administrative support, translation and editing, the IT platform and other technical support.
Three careers in finance, pointed at a classroom.
Luc Van Malderen
35+ years in corporate and investment banking, principally in London, in leadership roles across regions and sectors at JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Mizuho Financial Group. Now advises a global consultancy and several European start-ups and scale-ups in London and New York.
Adriaan Loeff
A 40-year banking career. Corporate banking at Barclays, then KBC Group, where he joined the senior management team and led global divisions including Large Corporate Banking and Financial Institutions. Former Chief Finance and Risk Officer of KBC's Russian subsidiary and a member of its management committee.
Bernard Delbecque
Visiting Professor at the College of Europe and IÉSEG School of Management in Lille. Chair of EIOPA's Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group, Professor Emeritus at UCLouvain, and former Senior Director for research, pensions and investor education at the European Fund and Asset Management Association.
Read the concept note in full.
The complete proposal — rationale, principles, phasing, budget — in all three languages, ready to forward to a colleague.
Three ways to be part of this.
Whether you run a school, sit in a ministry, or fund work like this — the pilot year starts in September 2026, and the conversations that shape it are happening now.
Schools
Interested in running the lessons with a few classes, or in seeing the material before you decide? We'll walk your team through it.
Enquire as a schoolEducation authorities
We want your input early. Tell us what would make this fit the curriculum, and what evidence you would need to see from the pilot.
Start a policy discussionFunders and partners
Institutional and philanthropic partners for a multi-year collaboration, and a media partner to carry the mission publicly.
Discuss a partnership