Vienna’s financial planning community gathered for the 13th time this week at the Marriott Hotel for two days of insight, dialogue, and networking.
Most financial education events open with an economic stocktake — the kind that can weigh heavily on a room. This year’s Financial Planner Forum, held in Vienna on 4 and 5 May and hosted by EFPA’s Austrian member the Österreichischer Verband Financial Planners (VFP), took a different approach. Rather than confronting attendees with the well-known pressures of the global economy, the programme opened with a motivating counterpoint: a call for greater trust and cooperation, delivered by behavioural economist Matthias Sutter.
In his opening keynote, Sutter argued that the mechanism of trust and cooperation — indispensable in our private lives — is equally fundamental to the functioning of economies, governments, and societies. It is a message that feels especially timely at a moment when global headlines are dominated by the opposite: hegemonic ambitions and the breakdown of diplomatic relations.
In modern civil societies, Sutter observed, high levels of cooperation and trust tend to correlate with greater prosperity. The same holds true at the micro level — within individual organisations, the link is measurable. Sutter serves as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn and holds professorships in Experimental Economic Research at the Universities of Cologne and Innsbruck.
Trust: Everyone Gives Their Best
Employees, Sutter noted, frequently invest effort in advance — on the assumption that their colleagues are doing the same. “Expectation alone has an effect,” he said. The reverse is also true: motivation drops as soon as people notice a colleague free-riding or underperforming.
“If someone isn’t pulling their weight, you as a leader must respond quickly and communicate clear expectations,” Sutter told the audience. Research shows that collective participation is highest where both rewards and sanctions are in place — where individual contributions that fall short are not left unaddressed.
Effects That Last Centuries
Active participation, however, is not simply a function of incentives. It is also a learning process — one that, once established, can have remarkably durable effects. Sutter illustrated this with the example of Swiss territories once governed by the House of Zähringen. When the main line died out in the 13th century, some of these communities gained a degree of self-governance. “To this day, differences remain between former Zähringen territories and others. People there are more active in associations and environmental causes, initiate more referendums, and participate more,” Sutter noted.
As in previous years, the Forum offered a full programme of presentations and lively networking during the breaks. The event was hosted by Guido Küsters and Claudia Figl, Managing Director and Chair of the VFP respectively.
A Growing Community of Certified Professionals
The Financial Planner Forum is also a celebration of a broader achievement. Since the VFP joined EFPA, the community of EFPA-certified financial advisors in Austria has grown steadily and has now reached approximately 4,000 certified professionals. This community spans holders of the EIP (European Investment Practitioner) and EFA (European Financial Advisor) designations, as well as the specialised add-on certificate EFPA ESG Advisor — reflecting the profession’s commitment to sustainable and responsible investment.
EFPA is proud of its collaboration with the VFP and of the role the Austrian membership plays within the wider European community of certified financial planners. Events like the Financial Planner Forum — now in its 13th edition — are a testament to the vibrancy and ambition of a profession that continues to raise its standards in service of European investors.
About EFPA Europe: The European Financial Planning Association (EFPA Europe) is the leading pan-European body for the certification and professional development of financial advisers and planners. Through its national member associations, EFPA represents over 100,000 certified financial professionals across Europe.
Press contacts: info@efpa-eu.org