Introducing social investment to IFAs

Allia and Social Finance are together supporting a research project by Worthstone in partnership with The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to understand the opportunities and challenges for social investment through independent financial advisors (IFAs).

The project will explore product, regulatory, access and compliance issues whilst also aiming to gauge the appetite for this emerging asset class amongst potential investors and those who advise them.

Joe Ludlow, NESTA’s Director of Social Ventures comments, “NESTA’s recent work has shown potentially significant demand for social investment products amongst individual investors. However we also know there is a strong need to better understand the distribution channels and means of communicating social investments if this latent demand is to be satisfied. Worthstone’s work will allow us to take our understanding further by practically testing social investment products through the vital IFA distribution channel.”

Gavin Francis, co-founder of Worthstone emphasises, “Impact Investment has started to be recognised as driving financial innovation which delivers measurable social and financial return. In doing so, this provides the financial services community with an opportunity to claim its place in society as one which supports and empowers social and economic progress”.

Supporting this initiative, Nick O’Donohoe, CEO Big Society Capital said, “We believe that developing the IFA market is crucial to the overall development of social investing in the UK. We are very supportive therefore of the important research which is being undertaken by Worthstone which will help ensure that the social investment market embraces IFA needs and regulatory challenges when developing product solutions for clients.”

The project is scheduled to report in April 2012.

For the full press release by Worthstone click here

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