The Personal Finance Society (PFS) and Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) have launched a new Environmental Social Governance (ESG) short course for financial advisers seeking to respond to greater scrutiny from regulators.
Rapid growth in the green finance market, shifts in cultural attitudes to sustainability, and legislative and regulatory changes – such as the FCA’s anti-greenwashing regulations – have fed demand for personal finance professionals who understand the fundamentals of sustainable investment.
The new ‘Spotlight: ESG and Sustainable Investment Advice’ course will help finance professionals to incorporate sustainable investment advice throughout their leadership and business practices.
The course will also support advisers in their implementation of Consumer Duty, by helping to cater to the sustainable and ethical preferences of clients and therefore achieving good outcomes.
The course is written by sustainable finance experts Rebecca Kowalski FPFS and Alan Whittle MSc FPFS, who have worked across advice, compliance, supervision and paraplanning.
The course learning outcomes include an understanding of the complexity of sustainable finance, the importance of engaging with sustainability in the current consumer market, the ability to identify sustainable and ethical products, and more.
Don MacIntyre, interim CEO of the PFS, said: “We are very pleased to announce the launch of the new Spotlight: ESG and Sustainable Investment Advice course.
“This is a brilliant opportunity for finance professionals to build their skills and knowledge, and gain valuable understanding of this important topic in order to best meet their clients’ needs.”
