Members of the Chartered Insurance Institute have come together to propose an item of ‘special business’, urging for it to be included in the annual general meeting held later today (June 30).
The CII is holding its AGM today and members have stated issues to debate as “a matter of extreme urgency” under section 47 of the Charter and Bye-laws of the CII.
The item of special business comprises two motions, with the first asking the CII main board to immediately suspend the further implementation of the 2016 Manifesto to allow time for “a proper independent review”.
The board should engage an independent auditor to carry out a full, detailed review of the success or otherwise of the manifesto; including detailed answers to the questions that have been raised in correspondence between the membership and the board.
Secondly, it stated that in the event that motion 1 is passed, members propose a motion of no confidence in the chief executive of the CII and call for her to be suspended until the independent audit report has been considered by the board and the membership have been consulted with in relation to the findings of the report.
This comes as last week past presidents of the Personal Financial Society called on advisers to vote against the CII at its AGM today.
Past PFS presidents Robert Reid, Carole Nicholls, Brian Steeples, Sharon Sutton and former CII vice president Grant Scott and Informed Choice executive director Nick Bamford, came together and published a website called Our PFS, which was launched solely to call for PFS members to vote against specific CII resolutions.
The revolt against the CII came after earlier this month the PFS board voted against deregistration for the third time since 2016.
The CII had first proposed deregistering the PFS as a legal entity in 2016 and then again in 2019 with a view to making cost savings and reducing the tax bill.
This decision by the PFS board to deregister also followed Matrix Capital Limited chartered financial planner Robin Melley’s plea earlier in the month, when he urged others in the industry to pressure the CII over its plans to deregister after he wrote to the CII’s independent chairwoman Helen Phillips, telling her that both himself and his fellow IISMW council members had concerns about what was happening at the body.
At the time, other advisers also hit back, saying the move could see some members switch to rival professional body the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment should it go ahead.
In the proposal sent to Miller today, Melley and Scott said other matters to be debated should include the 2020 annual report, the 2016 Manifesto, lack of transparency and accountability in relation to the exams fiasco, and the CII’s CEO and her fiduciary obligations to the membership.
The proposal said this was deemed to be a matter of extreme urgency because “serious and urgent concerns have been raised by the members in relation to the implementation of the 2016 Manifesto, which has included a number of very significant errors of judgement on the part of the chief executive that have put the CII in immediate danger by breaching its obligations under S.3(a) and S.3(d) of the Royal Charter.”
It added: “The Independent Chair and the CII main board members have been notified by the members of the serious concerns in relation to the chief executive’s poor judgement and mis-management, but have so far failed to take appropriate action to hold the chief executive to account.”
The CII said: "We can confirm we have received the request for special business motions." It did not want to comment further.
sonia.rach@ft.com
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