CII publishes plan to fix IT issues and promote advice profession

The plan, published today (April 2023), supports the group of companies that make up the institute, including its two professional membership bodies, the CII and Personal Finance Society.

Launching the plan, Alan Vallance, chief executive of the CII, said: “I am delighted to announce this new plan and the detailed set of actions we will be taking over the next five years to achieve the institute’s mission – ‘to educate and support our members to deliver services to the highest professional standards and to advocate for the public good’.

“We are an international organisation, with members living and working in more than 150 countries around the world, and our vision is to ensure we help them in every way possible to build a world which delivers ever greater financial resilience for individuals and societies more broadly.”

The plan is organised into two distinct phases, with the first year of the plan focusing on addressing legacy systems issues, returning the CII to a surplus position after the pandemic and building strong foundations for the future.

Examples of the actions being taken by the institute this year include:

• Establishing a new arrangement with the 55 local insurance institutes across the UK to refresh its relationship with its volunteer networks
• Undertaking a major review of the role professional standards plays in the context of Chartered status for individuals and corporate members
• Better promoting the rich data it already collects in respect of the public perceptions of trust in our professions and the value of chartered status
• Engaging with stakeholders to develop a new, simpler qualifications pathway
• Resolving legacy IT issues

The CII said the subsequent phase, from 2024 to 2027, will see the institute develop products and services.

The institute said it will also aim to stimulate interest among others to join the insurance, financial planning and mortgage advice professions.

Actions the institute will take include:

• Simplifying recognition of prior learning and introducing digitally badged CPD
• Evolving its digital shop to provide personalised recommendations for courses, support materials and other information
• Implementing a new virtual member engagement platform to support our international community
• Expanding its physical presence beyond the two current staffed offices in Dubai and Hong Kong where there is a case to do so
• Trialling a competition for key stage 5 or university students to engage students and spread interest in joining our professions

Further, the CII said it recognises the desire for the PFS to be more autonomous within the wider institute group, so it plans to refresh and renew its governance and identity to ensure both the CII and PFS can flourish as professional membership bodies.

Helen Phillips, independent chair of the CII, said: “This plan lays out a bold vision that will see the institute’s position as a global professional membership body cemented, financial reserves restored following the challenges of the pandemic, and the latest IT systems and services delivered to support our more than 120,000 members wherever they work and whenever they need them.”

The CII-PFS saga

In December, the CII announced its decision to appoint a majority of directors to the PFS and three institute directors to the PFS board with immediate effect, following failed mediation attempts.

At the time, Alan Vallance, CEO of the CII, said in order to “guarantee the highest standards of governance”, after a 30-day consultation period has elapsed, the CII group board intended to form a majority by appointing a further institute director to the PFS board.

In the member update, Vallance said the CII group board carefully reviewed the detailed evidence in December and made its decision to appoint further institute directors based on that. 

The move prompted the president of the PFS, Caroline Stuart, to step down, citing the “tremendous stress and pressure” put on the PFS’s board by the CII.

However some PFS board member directors and co-opted advisers called for more evidence of the governance failures to be provided. 

The PFS strongly denied the claims.

Following this, the CII sent evidence which supported all the concerns raised with PFS representatives during 2022 to the PFS board.

Earlier this month, the PFS said an independent governance review is currently being carried and follows a more recent change to the governance initiated by the CII.

The review also comes following an extensive consultation of PFS members, conducted in January of this year. 

These findings have been reviewed by the PFS board and presented to the CII board and they will now await the board’s response to the consultation and the governance review, with the final phase of this work to be presented to both boards in April.

sonia.rach@ft.com

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