The Personal Finance Society has postponed its conference and graduation ceremony until 2021 as the ongoing pandemic continues to halt large events.
The professional body announced today (July 7) it had hoped 2020 would “herald the return” of the PFS’s Festival of Financial Planning, but the “sheer scale of the event” meant it was not practical for this year.
However, the PFS is planning to host the “carnival vibe” event in Birmingham in November 2021.
The graduation ceremony has also been pushed to 2021. The PFS said: “While members will be naturally disappointed, we are hoping that the prevailing situation will allow members and their families to celebrate their achievements in more convivial circumstances.”
Its esteemed personal finance awards, usually announced at a gala dinner in November, will become a virtual affair on November 3 this year.
The PFS said while the dinner would not be possible, the hard work of entrants demanded an alternative style event to “celebrate the success of the wider profession”.
Some of the body’s events are still going ahead, however. It is planning a limited series of face-to-face investment roadshows to give members the opportunity to better understand the emerging global economic impact of Covid-19 and understand how this may influence investment decisions.
It pledged the venues would be carefully selected to minimise health risks and accommodate prevailing government advice.
Members would continue to receive content from its ‘Power programme’ as well, the PFS said, which includes articles, webinars and video content dedicated to financial planning.
Keith Richards, chief executive of the PFS, said: “The profession has coped with lockdown admirably, and it's fair to say that clients across the country of all ages are now used to using and interacting via digital at a new level which is likely to influence our services from this point onwards.”
“That’s the same for the PFS. While we quickly suspended all physical events and started a comprehensive reorganisation of our programmes...we immediately switched to supporting members with weekly newsletters.”
He added that from the start of the pandemic he had been meeting with the FCA weekly, discussing issues such as the FSCS and the hardening PI market and hoped to inform members of news on these areas shortly.
Mr Richards said: “Please keep your feedback coming regarding the key issues, and as a united profession, together we will shape the future.”
imogen.tew@ft.com
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