AIC launches new online training on investment companies

The AIC website's financial adviser area has been revamped with added functionality.

The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has relaunched its financial adviser website, introducing a new online training service for financial advisers and wealth managers called Learning Zone.

The website, which receives over 15,000 unique visitors a month*, carries data and statistics on investment companies, fund manager articles and videos, an AIC blog and details of upcoming training events. There are no charges for access to the website and its various services, though registration as a financial adviser is required for some areas.

Taking into account user requests and feedback, the relaunched financial adviser website now offers the following new features and functions:

  • The data on the investment company profile pages is enhanced with extra performance periods, volatility data, trading values and volumes.
  • There is a new Q&A area where users can ask questions about investment companies and have them answered quickly, with the answers published on the website.
  • A series of concise guides to investment companies, written specifically for financial advisers and wealth managers, covers a range of topics from basic concepts to more technical subjects such as taxation and the difference between onshore and offshore investment companies.
  • Users can now set up more than one watchlist, enabling them to monitor selected groups of investment companies easily.
  • There is a new look and feel making the website more attractive, streamlined and easy to use.

Nick Britton, Head of Training at the AIC, said: “The AIC’s financial adviser website has seen steadily increasing visitor numbers since its launch in 2013. We hope this relaunch will make the website more interactive and more helpful to the 15,000 or so financial advisers and wealth managers who use it each month.

“We’re particularly excited about the launch of our online training service, Learning Zone. Last year, we reached 1,513 financial advisers with our face-to-face training events, but we want to do more. Learning Zone will enable us to expand our education programme and help us inform more financial advisers and wealth managers of both the benefits and the risks of investment companies.

“While any individual can take the courses to accumulate relevant CPD, they are also designed to be easy for firms to incorporate into their own in-house training programmes.”

Learning Zone

The AIC has offered online training before in the form of webinars, but this is the first time fully interactive courses have been introduced that can be taken at any time, at the user’s convenience, and they will be regularly updated.

Four courses are available on the following topics: an introduction to investment companies; discounts and premiums; gearing; and the income features of investment companies. Each takes about 45 minutes to complete, and offers a CPD certificate on successful completion. The training is designed as structured CPD and accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and the Personal Finance Society (PFS).

More courses will be added over time, with a course on private equity the next in line to be introduced.

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Notes

  1. * Average monthly unique visitors 15,252 in the 12 months to August 2017.
  2. The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) was founded in 1932 to represent the interests of the investment trust industry – the oldest form of collective investment.  Today, the AIC represents a broad range of closed-ended investment companies, incorporating investment trusts and other closed-ended investment companies and VCTs.  The AIC’s members believe that the industry is best served if it is united and speaks with one voice. The AIC’s mission statement is to help members add value for shareholders over the longer term. The AIC has 351 members and the industry has total assets of approximately £171 billion.
  3. Disclaimer: The information contained in this press release does not constitute investment advice or personal recommendation and it is not an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. You should seek independent financial and, if appropriate, legal advice as to the suitability of any investment decision. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of investment company shares, and the income from them, can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the full amount invested and, in some cases, nothing at all.