Sustainable Finance and Consumer Protection

Background

Research from the 2° Investing Initiative (2DII) suggest that a majority of retail clients across Europe have sustainability investment objectives. Yet, “sustainable finance” doesn’t play a major role in the Greek and Czech climate action policies. This needs to change in order to implement the reform of the MIFID/IDD regulation which obliges financial advisors to ask about and take into account the sustainability preferences of their retail clients.

A plant grows in a glass of coins. Photo: (c) Micheile Henderson

Project

To support efforts to implement the reform, the project focusses on both ends of the client-advisor relationship. First, it increases the ability of individual clients to understand, articulate and express their sustainability-related investment objectives. Second, it builds the technical capacity of financial advisors and distributors to anticipate, interpret and integrate their clients’ demands into suitable product recommendations.

To achieve these goals, the project employs a variety of measures. Relying on knowledge and research results acquired in previous projects, the project conducts local surveys among 2,000 retail clients on their sustainability preferences. 200 mystery shopping visits provide the potential to audit marketing practices and to review product offers. Furthermore, 2DII provides the online retail platform MyFairMoney for the Czech and Greek market to support retail clients and financial advisors. To ensure continuity, the project organises a total of 24 events where results are disseminated with local stakeholders.