Union members to receive ethical planning
The Ethical Investment Company of Australia (EICA) has signed an agreement with ACTU Member Connect to provide ethical financial planning services to its union members.
Under the agreement, the EICA will provide ethical planning capabilities to members of the ACTU Member Connect, a service that has not previously been offered to the members, according to EICA director of business development, Nick Cowling.
“What we would be doing is allowing union members who have ethical concerns to have those addressed by us, and still get a gamut of financial services with an ethical load,” Cowling says.
The types of ethical financial planning services the union members can expect include, investment advice, estate planning, and a range of services the person might utilise.
As for the exact number of members the EICA will be responsible for providing financial planning advice, Cowling says, it doesn’t really work that way.
“The union doesn’t say here’s X amount of members. It is more that [now the agreement is signed] members are alerted that this service is now available,” he says.
“It is up to us to go out and say to people, here were are and we can provide ethical planning services to you. It’s not for the ACTU,” Cowling adds.
The ACTU Member Connect union members will continue to have access to the ACTU’s national network of more than 140 financial planners.
As at September 2001 the ethical investment market in Australia stood at $1.2 billion. This was comprised of $629 million in retail funds, $62 million in superannuation funds, $506 million in wholesale funds and $75 million in insurance bonds.
It is understood that these figures do not include those monies invested in individually managed accounts.
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