Intermediaries / Brokers / General

How ESG impacts financial advice practices

South Africa’s independent financial advisers (IFAs) must stay informed of emerging environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment trends, or risk alienating an important client demographic. “The interest from millennial investors has helped drive the rapid growth in global ESG investment, with a recent survey by the Bank of America offering a conservative estimate of USD20 trillion of asset growth in US-domiciled ESG funds between 2018 and 2038,” noted Theesan Moodley, General Manager at Sanlam Connect, during the brand’s recent Financial Confidence webinar.

Service delivery… good or bad?

Service levels… since the start of the pandemic, some have voiced their frustrations about service delivery with sentiments such as, “Claims took a lot longer to be finalised”, “I could not get a hold of the right people to help me”, “I was sent from pillar to post on most things”, “The overall service level was worse than ever” and “There was no accountability from anyone at the service provider”.

How intermediaries can protect vulnerable clients

Lack of regulatory recognition

There is a lack of regulatory recognition between the financial services industry and the financial planning profession.