Spotlight

The issues facing the planet and its people are never far away from the headlines. Consequently, financial advisers are facing increasing demand from clients wishing to invest sustainably and greater scrutiny from regulators. The Consumer Duty increases the responsibility of advisers to support clients with a full range of solutions, including how they may respond to their ESG preferences.

The new Spotlight: ESG and Sustainable Investment Advice course has been authored by experts who have worked in advising, compliance, supervision and paraplanning across a range of firms. It places adviser firms and their clients at the heart of the content and will furnish you with a solid understanding of sustainable finance and how you can use it to assist your own clients.

Technical authors Rebecca Kowalski FPFS and Alan Whittle MSc FPFS have also drawn on their personal experience with different firms to explore how to make sustainable finance work within your business, and how you can demonstrate leadership in this area.

Listen to an audio sample

You can expect to see lots of real-life, practical examples presented in an engaging way. For instance, there’s a discussion on how investment managers generate positive outcomes and manage risks through interactions with the businesses they invest in. This is illustrated with individuals from various firms sharing their viewpoints via audio clips such as this one.

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for Personal Finance professionals who wish to understand more about sustainable finance to:

• inform their day-to-day roles;
• support Consumer Duty implementation by ensuring clients can be provided with comprehensive education and exploration of their objectives, leading to good outcomes*; and
• incorporate sustainable investment advice throughout their business and show good practice and leadership.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Understand the nature and complexity of sustainable finance.
2. Recognise how the global transition to a sustainable economy affects the whole financial system, bringing risk, costs, opportunity and potential reward.
3. Understand how engaging with sustainability can be important to clients and the outcomes they wish to see their investments achieve.
4. Identify sustainable and ethical products and services available. Discuss their uses, and the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies.
5. Apply practical skills relating to investment selection, client education and communication to help deliver good client outcomes.
6. Apply understanding of sustainability issues and investment choices to empower and assist clients.
7. Apply your knowledge of investment problems and solutions to build a resilient, high-quality ESG/sustainable advice proposition.

Learning Modules

The learning is divided into four topics: Background to ESG, Investing, Clients and Leadership. Within these topics, there are 13 modules covering topics such as:

• ESG (climate change/net zero/social justice/corporate accountability, etc.).
• The role and structure of finance in relation to sustainability in today’s world.
• Designing and constructing sustainable portfolios, including implications for both risk and return.
• How to explore client preferences, motivation, education and engagement.
• How advising on ESG feeds into the Consumer Duty.
• Sustainable legislation and regulation – how it can boost and not block a business.
• How incorporating sustainable finance can be an opportunity for your business to demonstrate leadership, alongside insights from leaders already doing this successfully.

To explore all of the topics, modules and sections in the course see the ESG learning map.

Study

• 12 hours study time
• 12-month enrolment on the course – starts within 48 hours of purchase
• Online course delivered on RevisionMate using E-learning modules – you will receive an email with details of how to access the course materials following purchase.

Assessment

A final online assessment, at the end of the course, of 30 multiple-choice questions (up to three attempts to pass to be eligible for the completion certificate).

Completion Certificate

On successful completion of this course and assessment, you will be able to download a completion certificate.

CPD accreditation

The Spotlight: ESG and Sustainable Investment Advice course meets the Chartered Insurance Institute and membership requirements for 12 hours of CPD.

Price

Members benefit from a discounted price of £120 incl. VAT (compared with non-member price of £165 incl. VAT).

*This course is intended to provide a broad overview of the topic of ESG and Sustainable Investment Advice for Financial Services. It is not designed to enable students to become professionally qualified in giving advice to clients regarding ESG, and should not be used to substitute learning from a more formal qualification route.