The Responsible Investment Association (RIA) presented its annual conference in Toronto this week, pulling together more than 300 retail and institutional investment professionals. The agenda was excellent and the event well-organized, but it made clear how far behind financial advisors are relative to their institutional colleagues.
If the advisors on-hand were any indication, there remains a pervasive view that the category represents an extension of their clients’ values. This was on full display during a series of advisor roundtables facilitated by researchers from Environics. The discussions were all about “making a difference” and “stewarding clients’ values.”
It was a completely different conversation on the other side of the hall, where the agenda featured Best Practices for Assessing Transition Plans and other similarly advanced presentations. While advisors talked about values, the institutional folks were discussing value.
