Board Digest - October 2024

On this occasion, the Board received an update on the business planning and budgeting process, with the leadership team having developed more of the detail behind a coherent Group plan that will deliver additional value for all our members in 2025 and beyond. Board members were encouraged by the level of ambition, while recognising the need for the strategy to be delivered in ways that ensure financial resilience. The Board also benefitted from an update on our IT roadmap and the opportunity to discuss how we can achieve further cost savings while investing in technologies that can enhance the experience of our members and improve back-office functions. The ability to measure whether we are moving in the right direction is essential, and the Board was pleased to hear of improvements in our Net Promoter Scores, which form an important part of our evaluation process.

In early October, our Executive Director, Member Engagement and Learning, Gill White, and our General Counsel, Liam Russell, undertook an extensive stakeholder engagement schedule across the Middle East with our Regional Director, Gaenor Jones and colleagues. They reported back that the CII continues to be held in high esteem by the many regulators and agencies with whom they met, and we are optimistic that interest in our products and services has the potential to grow substantially in coming years. This led to a healthy discussion about our wider international presence, and how we might work with our affiliate institutes and other stakeholders in future.

In other routine business, the Board ratified the four recent Executive appointments to the PFS Board, and approved amendments to governance documentation that clarifies matters reserved to the Board and delegated to our Executive. We also reviewed customer service waiting times as part of our Chief Executive’s report and noted that while improvements had been made over recent months, principally through the recruitment of additional operators, there was a necessity to make further progress. This is anticipated as new team members build their skills and are able to more efficiently assist members. We also took reports from our four Committees, and began a conversation about how we can provide further support to PFS Regional Committees, in ways similar to our Local Institutes.

With Board business complete, we turned our attention to the Annual General Meeting, welcoming members in person and online. All ordinary business was passed with substantial majorities of 79% and above. They included appointing our new President for 2025, Nicola Stacey, ACII, and her Deputy, Callum Beaton, FCII. The full results will be available on our website in due course. We took a range of questions from members related to our annual report, financial statements and other matters and I would like to thank everyone who contributed. We will shortly provide on our website answers to those questions that were either not answered prior to the AGM or by the panel on the day, as well a recording of proceedings.

The PFS will hold its AGM on 11 November in Manchester, while the next CII Group Board meeting will take place in December.

Dr Helen Phillips

Chair, CII Group Board