14 September 2022
An update from the outgoing Chair, Gareth Mee.
As I hand over the reins of the F&I Board to Clara Hughes, it falls to me to write the final blog post of this session. It has been a privilege to work with the F&I Board despite the very unusual two years of my chairmanship and I reflect on what I believe to be a successful period in the circumstances.
The last two years has seen the IFoA come to terms with a hybrid world; arguably it has accelerated the need for us to connect further globally as in person meetings move to virtual meetings. For this Board, we have always had a strong international presence with the Banking MIG being a truly global group led outside of the UK and with arguably the most significant beneficiaries of the research, curriculum and network being overseas. The swift move to virtual meetings has enabled us to benefit hugely from the international network with an international makeup of the Board and a prolific set of blog posts and research showcased through COVID-19 to a global audience. I believe that we won’t look back from here and we will continue to embrace our global membership and enjoy contributions to the Board and the F&I community no matter where in the world our members reside or work.
A critical part of what the Board has looked to tackle in the last two years is the less diverse makeup of our particular part of the profession. We have set out to be thought leaders though our DEI charter and have led the profession in tackling some of the issues presented. We truly have a diverse Board and call on a diverse group of volunteers; I know that Clara will maintain this and ensure that we continue to be pioneers as we support the profession.
In our Board meeting, we welcomed Neil Buckley from the Regulation Board who we expect to spend more time with over the coming years. Linked to this, we also reflected on HMT’s Solvency II consultation and the IFoA response, which the F&I Board contributed to. We debated the use of the digital communities and welcomed the decision by the Profession to use the digital platform alongside the more traditional format of the Practice Board.
I attach our end of session report which summarises our Board’s summary of performance against our objectives which we reviewed in the meeting.
Find out more about the F&I Practice Board and its activities