ESG Accord has launched the Accord Initiative, giving advice firms free-to-access information that will help them build ESG and sustainability into their advice and Consumer Duty processes.
Developed by Lee Coates and Elly Dowding, both longstanding proponents of ESG principles, and supported by 19 providers, the Accord Initiative is a suite of compliance, education, CPD and Regulatory analysis services.
The site provides help, guidance advice and support to UK financial advisers in the delivery of financial advice on ESG, Sustainable, and Ethical investment options to their clients and has been designed to give advisers the confidence to deliver enhanced client outcomes
The underlying theme is increasing knowledge of ESG and Sustainability amongst financial advisers, compliance consultants and paraplanners, enabling them to give compliant advice in a way that delivers good client outcomes whilst meeting Consumer Duty, PROD, COBS and the Sustainable Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labels.
Coates says: “With Consumer Duty and new anti-greenwashing regulations now looming on the horizon, and with fund labels to follow, there is now an urgency for both advisers and fund managers to prepare for the changes that are coming.”
To conform to Consumer Duty, he added, advice firms will need to ensure clients are making informed choices across the spectrum of capital, which must include about ESG & Sustainability.
To this end, the initiative has devised a Suitability Framework. This is a comprehensive suite of documents to enable advisers, compliance firms and paraplanner firms, collectively, to deliver good client outcomes.
The framework has been designed specifically to assist advisers to educate, inform and collect client requirements in relation to their investment and mortgage preferences and objectives, and is complementary to existing compliance processes.
In addition, the framework has been built around the requirements of Consumer Duty and take full account of the forthcoming Sustainable Investment Labels.
Elly Dowding added: “Financial services play a key role in the transition to a more sustainable world, which is why we are committed to supporting advisers help their clients make informed choices for investment preferences across the spectrum of capital part of every advised clients’ financial advice journey.
“We aim to ensure the Accord Initiative delivers best practice compliance and advice solutions to support financial advisers, their clients and broader market participants”.
Paraplanning support
A key resource for advice firms in ensuring they achieve good client outcomes, Coates says, is paraplanning support.
The Accord Initiative has a training and knowledge scheme for paraplanning support firms, guiding them through the rules, regulations and how they relate to ESG, Sustainability and values-based investment and the wider spectrum of capital.
Outsourced firms that go through the training scheme and who agree to follow the initiative’s Guiding Principles, will be listed in a ‘Find a Sustainable Paraplanning Support firm’ database. Paraplanning firms that have already built their own ESG/Sustainability capabilities can also be listed on the database.
There are thee firms on the database to date: The Paraplan Project, The Principled Paraplanner and Unity Financial Planning.
A 58 second overview of the Accord Initiative can be found on the website HERE
Read also: Consumer Duty, ESG and paraplanners – what does good look like?
ESG accord partners are (alphabetically):
Aegon Asset Management
Aviva
Brooks Macdonald
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management
Ethical Screening
EV
Fidelity
M&G
Omnevue
Stellar Asset Management
GBI IFA Magazine
Global Returns Project
Janus Henderson
London Institute of Banking and Finance
Novia Financial
Par Equity
Rathbones
RBC Brewin Dolphin
WHEB
