Purpose, professionalism and the rise of trust

IN my travels around the world for CFA Institute, I see many positive signs for the financial services industry: rising trust levels; an increase in professionalism; more attention to finance's appropriate and important role in society; and more professionals being proud of their work, delivering for their clients, and demonstrating that finance is a noble profession. Allow me to expound on these "green shoots" for the industry in this column.

Our latest global research at CFA Institute, The Next Generation of Investor Trust, shows that trust is on the rise around the globe. We attribute this to rising levels of professionalism in our industry. Raising trust remains an ongoing challenge, but a commitment to professionalism and regularly acting in clients' best interests represents a proven pathway to higher trust levels.

The results of previous surveys had been depressing: only about half of those surveyed expected investment firms to do the right thing. So it is encouraging that investor trust levels in the financial services industry rose since our 2016 global survey. The wounds caused by the financial crisis are healing.