What we wish for as kids often tends to have a heroic slant, something that’s not only awesome in its own right (fighting fires! saving lives! Piloting a rocket ship to Mars!) but also holds some kind of sentiment that the work is good for other people and worthy of admiration. If you’re a firefighter, you put your life in danger to save those in great peril. If you’re a doctor, you work tirelessly to heal the sick. If you’re an astronaut, you venture forth into the unknown in hopes of advancing human civilization. These are admirable goals that add value to society. And they share a common thread of putting the interests of others ahead of one’s own.

This past May marked CFA Institute’s third annual Putting Investors First Month, an initiative that, at its core, is about creating an investment profession that better serves society. The goal, as articulated by CFA Institute, is to unite “investment professionals in a commitment to place investor interests above all others.” If you’re an investment professional, your heroic mission is to uphold your duty as a fiduciary and protect investor interests. Not the stuff of childhood dreams, perhaps, but important nonetheless.

The Hard Truth

Unfortunately, the last 10 years or so have left a track record that exposes the hard truth that all too often our industry has failed to prioritize investors. In 2015, according to a global CFA Institute survey that polled more than 3,000 retail investors and 500 institutional investors, the financial services industry ranked in the bottom tier of trust relative to other industries. The silver lining, however, was that overall investor confidence in the financial industry “to do what is right” has generally improved since 2013. But not so in Canada! While Canada has admittedly set the bar high (tied with Hong Kong for overall trust levels), the degree of trust in our industry among retail investors has actually declined since 2013.¹

A Roadmap for Improvement– The Statement of Investor Rights

In an effort to provide a path forward to promote the needs and rights of investors, CFA Institute has produced a Statement of Investor Rights. It’s a key component of the message advanced during Putting Investors First Month, so we’ve reproduced it here (see p. 14) to give readers a chance to think about its contents: 10 rights any investor should expect from financial service providers.

However, just knowing one’s rights isn’t always enough. Investors need to ask the right questions to ensure their rights are actually upheld when financial services are being provided to them. To this end, CFA Institute has produced a companion piece called “Realize Your Rights: Using the Statement of Investor Rights,” which is a tool to help investors assess whether a financial professional is indeed putting their rights first and upholding the ethical standards that are required of CFA charterholders. Straightforward questions (e.g., Are you a fiduciary? and Would our relationship be held to a fiduciary standard?) are among those to be found in this helpful four-page document.

The Global Ad Campaign

In addition to the Statement of Investor Rights, you may have seen the ad campaign A Difference That Matters, which aimed to raise investor awareness of what makes CFA charterholders different. Or if, like most people, you’re spending increasing amounts of time on social media, you may have seen the #CFAdifference campaign on Twitter. Take a look—you may be surprised at just how active (and global) your fellow charterholders are in spreading the word about our industry’s positive aspects.

Putting Investors First (in T.O.)

In support of the global ad initiative, CFA Society Toronto embarked on its first-ever digital ad campaign. Targeted digital ads were placed in The Globe and Mail and their alliance partners, which include notable online news outlets such as Reuters, The Guardian, Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Times of India. If you’re a particularly curious person, you may even have clicked on one of the ads, which would have taken you to the CFA Society Toronto website’s landing page for Putting Investors First Month 2016.

In addition to the digital campaign, the sharp-eyed PATH-dwellers among you may have noticed posters that were located at various points near the TD Centre, the Standard Life building, and the Sheraton Centre. The poster ads listed 10 benefits of having a CFA charterholder on your team, number one being “honest, competent, and ethical conduct.” The second aspect of the physical ad campaign was publicizing the related Twitter initiative #CFAdifference, which asked our community to take selfies next to the ads and then post them on social media.

A Word From the Top

Paul Smith, president and CEO of CFA Institute, notes that putting clients first should generate a wide array of benefits, not only for clients but also for the long-term success of our profession.

“Through this encouraging effort, we want to inspire our community to make a real impact and foster a market environment where both investment professionals and investors can thrive,” he says. “Putting Investors First Month is just the beginning of what should be a continuous focus on the rights of the investor in order to raise awareness among investors of what it truly means to be a professional.”

¹ For further survey details, download the report titled “From Trust to Loyalty” from CFA Institute’s website.