The Chartered Insurance Institute has announced Matthew Hill as the group’s new chief executive.
Hill is currently chief executive of the Legal Services Board, a position he has held since August 2019.
Prior to that, he began his career in the civil service, working in a wide range of areas over a 20-year span.
Before joining the Legal Services Board, Hill was executive director, strategy at the General Dental Council and director, regulatory risk & analysis at the Gambling Commission before that.
Hill said: “I have been very impressed by the CII’s very clear intent to provide first-rate sector leadership on behalf of its committed and passionate membership, and to deliver the highest professional standards for the benefit of public trust in the insurance, financial planning and mortgage advice professions.
"I will do everything I can to help it achieve those goals.”
He will join the CII in early April and replaces Alan Vallance, who left the organisation at the end of December 2023.
Vallance was appointed to the role in April last year and took over officially from August.
It was originally announced that Vallance would leave his position as chief executive in Spring 2024 to take up the equivalent role at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
However, in an internal announcement seen by FT Adviser, Vallance said he was stepping down from his position earlier than previously planned.
The board had decided to ask Gill White to take over as acting chief executive until a permanent CEO was found and the CII said she will remain in the role until Hill’s arrival.
Helen Phillips, chairperson of the CII group board, said: “We are delighted to have been able to appoint Matthew from a field of very strong candidates.
“Matthew brings a vast breadth of experience from a twenty-year career in the civil service and his current position as chief executive of the Legal Services Board.
“The CII Group Board is convinced that his leadership, combined with the energy of our members and the commitment, hard work and deep technical and sectoral expertise of our organisation’s staff, will enable the CII group to achieve the goals and ambitions set out in our five-year strategic plan launched last year."
CII and PFS dispute
It has been more than a year since the dispute between the CII and the Personal Finance Society began but late last year the CII was still battling with resignations and senior management moves.
For example, in December, the PFS announced that its interim chairperson Andrew Briscoe was terminated as director.
Briscoe had spent only five months in the role as he was appointed around the same time Edward Grant was made an institute director to the PFS board.
But this was not the only senior staff member to leave in recent times as back in 2021 Sian Fisher announced that she would step down after more than six years at the helm of the CII.
The troubles came to a head in December 2022 when the CII announced it was taking control of the PFS board amid "failed mediation".
'As previously reported, this led to members of the PFS board hitting back at the CII after its meeting was rendered “inquorate” due to insufficient CII appointed directors, leading the institute to accuse the PFS of “another contravention” of board confidentiality.
Since then, there have been exits and appointments at the group.
In October, FT Adviser delved in to what had been spent on trying to resolve problems between the two bodies.
In its full-year results ending December 31 2022, the PFS reported total operating expenses of £7.99mn in 2022, of which £0.85mn was towards expert legal and financial advice on the back of the CII saga.
The accounts said the spend on expert legal and financial advice was "required by the unique circumstances triggered by the CII's desire to begin mediation from July 2022".
This news led to members of the PFS signing an open letter to the board outlining their concerns and calling for all PFS funds to be transferred to that organisation's control.
sonia.rach@ft.com
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