David Smith Comments on CFA Institute’s Putting Investors First Month

CFA Institute looks to restore investor confidence

For financial professionals, the bottom line is always trust and honesty. Each May, CFA Institute members across the globe celebrate Putting Investors First Awareness Month.

The educational push is guided by 10 pillar statements that help promote the integrity of the industry through values like respect, high ethical standards and fair treatment.

When West Vancouver resident Adam Alexander Keller recently defrauded a number of local residents out of as much as $600,000, posing as a financial professional, it exhibited how close to home the issue can get. David Smith, CFA Society Vancouver’s president and managing director for Pinnacle Fund Services, said the commitment is to raise the public’s trust in financial professionals.

“One way we do it is by promoting the Statement of Investor Rights,” said Smith. “That is a way for investment professionals to communicate to their investors that, ‘Hey, we’re going to operate in an ethical manner, following these principles.’ And the principles are based on putting investor interests above anything else.” …