Nearly 800 members of the Personal Finance Society (PFS) had the opportunity to share their views on the Chartered Insurance Institute’s (CII) decision to appoint three of its directors to the PFS Board.
The meeting took place on 20 January 2023, and interim chief executive Don MacIntyre said that, due to the great engagement showed, the PFS will extend the deadline for its ongoing survey as well as organise other meetings up until 27 January to give the opportunity to other members to take part.
The CII’s move, which has been deemed aggressive, also led to the resignation of PFS president Caroline Stuart at the beginning of January.
MacIntyre added: “Since the CII announced its decision at the end of last year, it has been vital for me and the PFS board to ensure members’ voices are heard. I know from the almost 2,000 members that have written to me that there are significant concerns about what this action by the CII will mean for their organisation, many of which I share.
“The deadline for the consultation has been extended to 27 January to enable more members to be heard. I continue to urge all PFS members to make their views, insights and concerns clear to me via the survey. The more members I hear from, the stronger the message I can relay for the PFS to the PFS and CII boards on your behalf.
“My priority in the weeks and months ahead is to bring stability back to the PFS and develop and deliver a plan to move past this period of turbulence. The risks and challenges arising from the decision to act by the CII and the subsequent situation is not in the best interests of the PFS.
“This impasse has to stop as it is clearly doing damage to both the PFS and CII. I and the PFS board have the organisation and its members’ interests at its heart. I want to sit down with the CII, to negotiate, consider the impact for both organisations and reach a compromise that finds a solution, having heard what members have to say.
“Ultimately, I believe there is a solution that can still be found and our members would expect nothing less than for us to do all we can to reach it.”
