FIS money-advice.net 2002

FIS money-advice.net is a "Social Finance Information Co-operative", in which partners from different countries and various organisations have joined together to build a common platform for making accessible legal, economic and political information of direct relevance to dealing with financial services.

Members of the co-operative include consumer organisations, research institutions, money advice organisations, public bodies and international organisations. IFF in Hamburg is responsible for editing the system, which can be maintained on a decentralised basis, allowing individual data entries and integration into other web-sites. The objective of FIS money-advice.net is to assemble information of the widest application to the field of financial services, in order to ensure that the financial services system functions in a socially responsible manner and that it meets social needs through provision of a sufficient quantity of high quality products. Its scope therefore extends to all problems relating to the way the market can meet people's needs in the context of financial services. Its objective includes consumer protection, debtor protection, protection for the middle classes, investor protection, anti-discrimination and community development, as well as housing provision, finance for the non-profit sector and combating criminality in financial service provision.

FIS money-advice.net consists of the FIS Money Advice Portal, which focuses on a number of topics, including overindebtedness and money advice, start-up finance for small and medium-sized businesses, private pension provision, financial literacy and the research archive on social finance.

The FIS database, which already contains more than 27,000 records consisting of general information (press), statutes, judgments, support for advisors and teaching materials, is available for independent research and can be linked simultaneously to a wide variety of portals and topics published by other providers.

FIS money-advice.net can be used by all information providers with an interest in social finance, and those information providers can contribute to the system on a decentralised basis by creating their own presence, whether they wish to restrict their contribution to certain users or whether they wish to make it generally available. At the same time, they benefit from the information contributed by other providers and, above all, from the international nature of the project.

The system may be used free of charge by anyone engaged in consumer or debt advice, in insolvency prevention or financial literacy training, in money, credit or investment advice, or who needs basic information or teaching materials as providers.

The cost of the system is borne by the information providers.

If you would like to participate in the system as a provider of financial services or of information, as a sponsor or as a contributor, please apply to Institute For Financial Services.