Letter to Financial Adviser Newspaper

I refer to your 17 Jan 2008 edition and the letter from Sam Caunt.

All I wish to do is put him right in his assertion that an IFA that deals with ethical investments gives limited advice.

My comments refer to the members of the Ethical Investment Association, which provide a representative sample of IFAs giving advice on ethical investments.

Most EIA members do indeed advise on products outside of the ethical investment sphere, as not all of their clients choose to use ethical investments.

There is no sense at all that such advisers offer limited advice.

Indeed, you could say the converse is true, IFAs that do not ask their clients an open ethical question (like "do you have any social, ethical or environmental concerns that you would like us to take into account in our advice") are limiting their advice.

Ultimately, asking the 'ethical question' is not a threat to business, you will never lose a new client enquiry by asking the question.

However you may well lose a client by NOT asking it.

It is understandable that most IFAs are reticent about this area as the financial planning certificate (FPC) and related exams did not cover it, so there is a lack of knowledge.

That can easily be put right by:

- visiting the UK Social Investment Forum website (http://www.uksif.org/) and taking part in their freely available web-based training

- visiting one of the free quarterly meetings of the EIA, aimed at supporting the training needs for IFAs in this area (http://www.ethicalinvestment.org.uk/index.html)

Regards
Robin Keyte

Dr R W Keyte - Chartered Financial Planner & CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER CM
Chair of the Ethical Investment Association