Financial education is about more than information: it’s about changing people’s relationship with money and increasing the chances of making better decisions, says Sergiu Mircea, Executive Director of Marketing, Communications & Customer Experience at Banca Transilvania, in an interview with Financial Intelligence, part of the editorial project “Financial education, the best investment in yourself,” produced together with Banca Transilvania.

The interview series dedicated to financial education brings together representatives of the financial system, the capital market and public authorities, as well as elite athletes, who share their perspectives on the role of responsibility, discipline and long-term planning in achieving financial success and performing in life.

You can read the full interview with Sergiu Mircea below:

In recent years, Banca Transilvania has developed several financial education initiatives, from FIT – Finance for Everyone and Ask BT to projects dedicated to young people. Which of these do you think has had the greatest impact, and how do you measure the results in practice?

In terms of scale and our ability to reach people, FIT – Finance for Everyone is BT’s financial education initiative with the greatest impact. But for us, success isn’t just about audience numbers; it’s about the fact that financial education has become a natural, accessible conversation for more and more Romanians.

In the three years since launch, FIT has evolved from a project into a national financial education platform, present online, on social media, in schools and universities, and at Romania’s major music festivals. We have reached 50 million views of educational content, over 150,000 participants in themed quizzes, and over 80,000 children, pupils, students, teachers and parents who benefited from educational activities delivered by our colleagues in 2026.

Banca Transilvania has a distinctive advantage — as the largest bank in the country, with over 500 branches, more than 10,000 colleagues and over 5 million customers, it’s much easier for us to work with “big numbers.” As a result, what we do has a significant impact in Romania. Just think about the more than 10,000 colleagues: if they are trained and prepared to provide financial education advice, the strength of the programme (FIT, in this case) is impressive. That is what we did here as well, even though this was only one of the pillars of Finance for Everyone.

Beyond the figures, the greatest satisfaction is the change we see in the way people talk about money. If we manage to turn a topic perceived as difficult into one that inspires confidence and action, then we have fully achieved our goal. For us, financial education is about more than information; it’s about changing people’s relationship with money and giving them better odds of making good decisions for day-to-day life and for their future.

FIT started from the idea of explaining money and financial concepts in language everyone can understand. After a few years, what have you learned about Romanians’ relationship with money? What are the things we still struggle to understand?

We found that interest in financial education is much higher than the current level of knowledge. People want to understand money better, not because they necessarily care about financial theory, but because they want more security, more options and more control over their future.

Our studies show that the greatest information needs relate to saving, investing, managing a personal budget and entrepreneurship. At the same time, many young people say they wish they had started saving earlier or better understood the consequences of certain financial decisions. These findings shaped FIT’s evolution and confirmed that people need financial information that is simple, practical and relevant to everyday life. That’s why, through video series, educational content on social media, interactive quizzes, collaborations with content creators and an accessible online platform, we turn topics such as saving, investing, pensions or online safety into explanations that are easy to understand and apply. At the same time, we went where the audience is. FIT is not just digital content; it also means a direct presence in communities.

People aren’t looking for complicated formulas, but for clear information to guide the choices in their lives. FIT’s role, therefore, is to translate financial language into something human, relaxed and easy to apply.

We also learned that people are much more likely to engage with concrete, practical information that affects them, and less so with the abstract. That’s why we’ve tried to democratise information and speak in a way people relate to, and to show up where they are — especially now that access to information is as easy as it gets.

From Banca Transilvania’s experience, what are the most important things a young person should understand about money before earning their own income?

I’d start with a simple idea: time can be our ally. Financial habits built early have a much greater impact than decisions taken later — or too late. Then, what we earn matters, but what we do with what we earn matters even more. And the highest-return investment remains investing in yourself — skills, education and the ability to keep learning are assets that hold their value over the long term. Money can buy things, but good financial decisions can buy you time and choices.

We see younger generations with instant access to investing, financial apps and information from social media. Is this democratisation of access to finance more of an opportunity, or can it become a risk without financial education?

Access to information is an extraordinary opportunity, but also one of the biggest tests, because access to information doesn’t automatically mean financial education.

Today, a young person can invest in a few minutes from their phone, but that doesn’t automatically mean they understand the product, the risks, the time horizon or how markets work. Social media, for example, can spark interest in investing, but important financial decisions should be based on more robust information. The difference between opportunity and risk comes down to education.

It’s a very good thing that younger generations have access to conversations about money, saving and investing much earlier than before. If we manage to complement that access with financial education, then the democratisation of finance can become one of this generation’s greatest advantages.

How can we turn a financial mistake into a lesson, without giving up on saving or investing?

As in any field, mistakes are part of learning. Sometimes they cost money, but they can also bring something valuable: experience and a more mature perspective on future decisions. If we see a poor decision as a dead end, we risk losing exactly what could help us over the long term. Saving and investing aren’t about perfection; they’re about consistency.

Saving, investing, pensions, insurance, lending — people face an ever-growing number of decisions. In your view, what are the biggest vulnerabilities today in Romanians’ financial education?

The paradox is that Romanians are increasingly interested in their financial future, yet they don’t always turn that concern into action.

People make decisions in a fast-changing environment. Knowing how to save is no longer enough. We need to understand the difference between saving and investing, the role of insurance, the impact of inflation on our money, how private pensions work, and what a long-term loan entails. Information is everywhere, so the biggest challenge is to separate valuable information from noise and to turn knowledge into actions that make our lives better and more prosperous.

Another vulnerability, I believe, is the pace of technological progress and the way technology affects social media, traditional media and how we communicate. That’s where dangers arise, because things change very quickly. People can fall into traps because of the unregulated, uncontrolled promotion of falsehoods or manipulations. Money can be lost to fraud, or poor investments can be made. This is also our role — to invest in education campaigns. And that is exactly what FIT does.

What role should banks play in financial education? Where does individual responsibility end and where does the responsibility of financial institutions begin, in helping people make better decisions?

Financial education is a shared responsibility. Decisions belong to each of us, but banks can help make those decisions easier to understand and to take. At Banca Transilvania, we believe that beyond providing banking solutions, our role is to help build trust and financial understanding. The success of financial education isn’t about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions before making a decision.

If we were to build a “podium” for financial education, what three rules should any young person follow to reach financial independence and security?

In third place — understand the value of money, and the difference between price and value. Not everything expensive is valuable, and not everything valuable has a price.

In second place — use time to your advantage. In finance, time is one of the few resources that can multiply the results of a good decision.

And in first place — invest in yourself before you invest in anything else. Education, skills and adaptability are investments that generate returns throughout life.