Government urged to push ‘positive’ IFISA investing benefits

IMPACT investing platform Lendahand Ethex is calling for more promotion of the Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) as a means of getting more women involved with positive investing.

It comes as research by Ethex – ahead of Good Money Week starting on 1 October – found 51 per cent of people in the UK are investing positively, of which 33 per cent are women.

The analysis also found that 53 per cent of respondents who feel they don’t know enough about positive investing are women, suggesting more can be done to encourage these potential investors.

Lendahand Ethex has suggested that investing language needs to be more straightforward and that traditional financial services companies and financial advisers must promote a broader range of products such as the IFISA to attract female users to positive forms of investment.

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“The government needs to take more of a progressive role in new products such as the IFISA, pushing for greater transparency around impact reporting and highlighting the importance of social and environmental impact when it comes to investing,” Lendahand Ethex said.

The platform has also suggested there should be more female role models in financial services.

“It is incorrect to think that men are more engaged with their money simply because there are more male investors,” Lisa Ashford, managing director of Lendahand Ethex, said.

“The industry needs to understand the motivations of the investor, not simply how a product is communicated or what it returns.

“Good Money Week is a great initiative for looking at investing not simply as a product but a means of supporting an issue you value. If we can encourage more people to get involved, then that is a great outcome.”

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