Glasgow is currently crammed with politicians, royalty, protestors, politicians, and environmentalists all debating the future of our planet and how much we need to think about to make things better.
Well, our commentators here on Octo have been cramming in this week too and the debate is as lively and enlightening as ever as we explore the various elements of our sector future. From paraplanners to language to difficult questions around culture to new and different ways to enter financial planning as a career there is a whole new crop of sessions to choose from.
On Wednesday morning, Rory McIvor, Andrew van Biljon and Henry Jolliffe of Ruffer hosted a short webinar for Octo Members on reimagining the art of portfolio construction. With a new market regime demanding changes to the ways portfolios are being constructed, the session took participants through the latest thinking on the subject and was followed by an informative Q&A panel.
With COP 26 now well underway, it’s probably no surprise that responsible investing is high on the agenda of many members. Wednesday evening’s regular virtual drinks saw Georgina Mitchell taking the chair for a discussion on the challenges faced by the adviser community when it comes to understanding the evolving taxonomy around the themes of sustainable, responsible, and impact investing. But whilst sustainability can be a difficult conversation to have with clients, with ESG portfolios now constantly outperforming their ‘traditional’ peers, do advisers find themselves at risk of claims in the future if they don’t explore this option with their customers?
Keeping with that theme, the week’s Hot Topic was on the subject of Responsible Investing as the New Normal. The debate covered a wide range of issues with regard to tailoring responsible investing to meet the needs of each client as an individual, how fund groups are integrating responsible investment considerations into their everyday processes and how to deal with cynics. A longer write-up of this event and a recording of the webinar will be available early next week.
Masses of interviews also featuring planners and paraplanners discussing new entrants, culture, difficult discussions, the language of advice, and a whole heap more. Check them out in the feed as per usual.
If you missed Virtual Drinks last week when we discussed the forthcoming Adviser Responsible Investment Forum in detail with Georgina Mitchell leading the discussion then don’t worry there is a lot more to come on that subject to help and inform you so keep an eye out for it. As a starter for ten, this article by John Lappin chats through some thoughts on suitability versus sustainability based on the output from the FCA this week.
17 August 2020
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