Sian Fisher on her vision for the advice industry

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by

Talking to FTAdviser In Focus, Sian Fisher said: "This whole issue of empowering individuals to have the best possible chance of managing their finances is more important than it has ever been.

"We have to have the right mechanisms in place" to encourage people into financial advice.

She added: "In our profession, we should be at the forefront of the levelling-up and socioeconomic initiatives because that is where the very wide talent pool is. You need to make your profession accessible to this very wide talent pool."

The video interview was filmed a few days before the CII announced a wide-ranging consultation among members, which was met with consternation by the board of the Personal Finance Society.

It is sad to leave but it has been an incredible and fulfilling experience.Fisher

As reported in FTAdviser on October 15, the CII published its Shaping the Future Together consultation, but the PFS claimed its board had not been consulted.

PFS president Sarah Lord, who was consulted individually by the CII, said she “regrets that the CII did not engage with the PFS board collectively on the drafting of the consultation document and the CII did not bring the document to the PFS board for input”.

Moreover, when Fisher's departure was announced at the beginning of October, chartered financial planners told FTAdviser they were concerned this marked the start of yet another proposal to deregister the PFS.

In June 2021, the PFS board voted down a third proposal to deregister it after it caused uproar among members. The proposal had first been made to deregister the PFS as a legal entity in 2016, and then again in 2019, but the PFS board rejected this both times. 

Both times the proposals were rejected by the PFS board, but Fisher told FTAdviser in June that back in 2019 it was agreed that it would be considered again following the formation and establishment of the structure of the CII’s Insurance Societies. 

Fisher told FTAdviser In Focus: "Anything I can do before I finish on our own consultation with our own members about what they would like to see the future look like, [I will]," she said.

She added: "It's the same issue that our new president Peter Blanc and Sarah Lord, president of the PFS, are both concerned about: the future of advice. 

"What more, collectively across financial services, can we do about that?"

Fisher, who said she had agreed to a five-year tenure in 2016 but stayed an extra year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, expressed her desire to hand the baton onto someone who "feels the same passion" as her.

"Every iteration has a skill set that comes along with it. I hope I used mine to the best advantage. It is sad to leave but it has been an incredible and fulfilling experience."

Gender diversity

Fisher also spoke about the importance of continuing to build on the success of the Insuring Women's Futures campaign, which was sponsored by the CII.

Launched in 2019, the initiative aims to help women build up their personal financial resilience as well as encourage financial services to think more creatively about how to help close the gender pension and protection gaps. 

"This isn't about apportioning blame," she said, "this is a journey everybody is on. A lot has been done to equalise the position between the genders, but the more we talk about the things that still are an issue, and the more openly we talk about them, the better."

She said while there will always be a tiny proportion of women in society who have immense wealth, factually and historically the majority of women have not engaged in financial services. 

"We cannot get away from the fact that... some of this is just access to knowledge and a lot of this is relevance.

How are you, at the front end of your business, taking the customer's life circumstances into account?

"We all know from conversations about ethnicity and disability that if people do not see in front of them role models and people they feel they can relate to, all of these things can be off-putting, even if the person themselves is doing a great job."

Fisher encouraged companies to nudge their own staff to consider the make-up of their senior roles, explaining the financial impact on flexible working and creating policies around pensions during maternity, for example.

Another thing the IWF is aiming to do is to encourage companies to sign up to an inclusive customer pledge.

She said: "How are you, at the front end of your business, taking the customer's life circumstances into account, genuinely, when advice or product conversations are happening?

"Initially none of the big brands were comfortable about this, but it is clear this is happening now, if you look at the adverts from some large brands."

Fisher welcomed the rise of websites created specifically to encourage women's financial health, as well as in-depth financial discourse appearing in women's magazines, such as Red, which is all helping to educate women more about their wealth.

To watch the full interview, click the image above.

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com