Shaping the Future Together

How the CII wants to engage with you to ensure everything we do empowers you as a professional

We exist to support you

The Chartered Insurance Institute’s (CII) mission is to support the professional development of our 125,000 members worldwide and help you enhance your career potential.

To deliver our mission – and to support you fully as a valued member of the CII Group as a Personal Finance Society (PFS) member – we have moved in recent years to become truly modern, relevant and diverse as an organisation.

We continually engage a broad range of our profession’s stakeholders: building public trust in the insurance and financial planning sectors; working strategically with organisations to raise professional standards; and helping those contemplating a financial planning career with their journey.

We know that the fast pace of technological developments, shifts in customer expectations plus fresh regulatory requirements for the profession will continue in the months and years ahead. Just as you did with the pandemic, our profession will rise to the challenge and opportunity created by this fast pace of change. Going forward, we want to be by your side, helping you every step of the way and recognise we will need to change to continue to assist you.

As a key enabler of the 21st century economy, it is vital that our profession – together with the CII and PFS, as your professional body – continue to evolve in step with the modern world.

Which is why we are inviting you to help shape the future of our profession: to have your say on how the CII and PFS should help equip you with the skills, knowledge, insight and networking opportunities to thrive.

CII CEO, Sian Fisher, says: “The service provided by financial advisers is vital to society through strengthening the financial resilience of individuals and businesses. We want to equip you with the skills, knowledge and behaviours to help your clients take action to achieve their goals.

Above all, we want to ensure that what we do – and how we do it – helps you to help your clients achieve their financial goals

“We want members to share with us the challenges and opportunities they face, so we can help them best serve their clients as a truly relevant and responsive partner.

“We will use your feedback to understand the services you want us to deliver and to shape our future strategic direction.”

Key objectives of our consultation

The CII Group needs to ensure that our structure and offer are 100% aligned with your needs and those of the public you serve. After all, our Royal Charter requires us to work to: “secure and justify the confidence of the public” in the insurance and financial planning profession.

Above all, we want to ensure that what we do – and how we do it – helps you to help your clients achieve their financial goals.

“We are aware of the significant changes our profession has faced and challenges that professional bodies have gone through in recent times,” says PFS President, Sarah Lord.

“This is your opportunity to help us shape the future of both our organisation and our profession and ensure we are all fighting fit to strengthen public trust in the power of financial planning.

“I encourage all Personal Finance Society members to engage with this consultation, to share their views – and help shape the member benefits, services, learning and qualifications delivered by the CII Group in the months and years ahead.”

Shaping the Future Together is designed to refresh our 2016 manifesto strategy: engaging key stakeholders to evolve our future plans and creating a compelling strategy to guide our organisation for the next five years.

Specifically, Shaping the Future Together will engage members and key stakeholders in a joint endeavour to:

• put our learning framework and membership proposition at the core of our strategy, and future-proof our learning and membership offer for a changing world.

• evolve how we strengthen professionalism and public trust across the insurance and personal finance professions.

• ensure our governance structure is robust and fit for purpose.

• ensure our members are at the heart of what we do.

As part of this, Shaping the Future Together will work collaboratively with you to address known challenges:

• explore how the CII can deliver what you want, in the way you want to receive it.

• explore how our current governance structure works and develop one that works for all members.

• explore ways to communicate with members as well as learners and develop a constructive ongoing dialogue.

Creating a genuine debate

To foster a genuine, open debate around the issues that matter for the profession and your clients, Shaping the Future Together will:

• give every CII member the opportunity to share their views.

• engage with senior corporates, regulators, policymakers and trade bodies via dedicated forums.

• engage the wider public and consumers via dedicated forums.

• work with an independent agency and group representing all CII members – including PFS, Local, Regional and International members – to input to and oversee the process of shaping the consultation and analysis of the feedback.

Designed around you

We want Shaping the Future Together to give you every opportunity to let us know about your experience of being a member. To do this, Shaping the Future Together will empower you to share your voice in the way that works for you.

You can use our online survey to share your detailed feedback, thoughts and ‘blue skies’ proposals.

You can join one of many live events over the coming months to discuss key issues together with other members and representatives of the CII, our societies, Local Institutes, regional committees and affiliated international institutes.

We will compile feedback from the online survey and live sessions for analysis. The group analysing the data will represent all CII members: including PFS, Local, Regional and International members.

What you can do now

Please visit our Shaping the Future Together webpage – www.thepfs.org/consultation - where you can find out more about this vital initiative.

Thank you, in advance, for adding your voice to Shaping the Future Together and for helping us strengthen trust in our profession.

Image credit | iStock