PFS launches ESG spotlight course for personal finance professionals

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 learning is an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the ESG finance space, and covers areas such as sustainable portfolios, exploring client preferences, and how sustainable legislation and regulation can boost business.

Course learning outcomes include:

• Understand the nature and complexity of sustainable finance

• Recognise how the global transition to a sustainable economy impacts risk, costs, opportunity, and reward
• Understand the importance of engaging with sustainability in the current consumer market

• Identify sustainable and ethical products and understanding their uses
• Apply practical skills relating to investment selection, education and communication
• Build resilient, high-quality ESG/sustainable advice propositions

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.”

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

Further information on the subject of sustainable finance can be found in the CII’s Green Finance Companion Guide to the Code of Ethics.

Registration and more information on the Spotlight: ESG and Sustainable Investment Advice course can be found via this link.