PIMFA WEEKLY BULLETIN
PRESS RELEASES ABOUT PIMFA CONSUMER DUTY WEALTHTECH
PIMFA Women’s Symposium
On 16 & 17 April we held our Women's Symposium, which was the biggest event in our history with two days of truly fantastic motivational talks from leading female speakers, regulatory updates, industry panels alongside career, practice management and personal development streams.
The event created a truly inspirational and electric atmosphere as we celebrated the achievements and contributions of numerous women. You can watch some of the highlights of the event here and read the press release here.
We are proud to help empower women and our male allies to drive change towards greater inclusivity and diversity, and following this years fantastic success, the PIMFA Women’s Symposium will return in 2025 on April 8 & 9 in London. Details of how you can be part of it will be shared soon.
Thank you to our attendees for such amazing feedback:
"What PIMFA put together was one strong and extremely powerful set of voices, thought leadership and connections. The ripple effect will be very long lasting. Congratulations!"
"What an awesome event this was. I felt truly privileged to be part of it and I was blown away by how brilliant everyone and everything was from start to finish."
"Truly the best event I have ever attended or been involved in."
If you would like to register your interest in attending next year and be eligible for a discount, please fill in the form HERE.
The 2024 Q2 PIMFA Asset Allocation Survey
CLOSES FRI 26 APR, 5PM
Complete this quarter's survey(s), and you can:
• Receive a complimentary, 40-page report, showing how the strategic asset allocations of your firm’s model portfolios compare to the peer average.
• Ensure the index weight methodologies for the MSCI PIMFA Private Investor and Equity Risk Index Series’ remain relevant benchmarks for the UK wealth management sector.
Registered firms, simply click here to login and submit your firms quarterly strategic asset allocations using our new and improved dashboard.
We value and encourage active participation from our full member firms, email indices@pimfa.co.uk now for more information/to sign-up.
New PIMFA Guest Blog
‘What clients want hasn’t changed – just how they want it delivered’
There is no doubt that an increase in quality client engagement and collaboration is a marker of success in wealth management contexts. More meetings and convenient spaces for client interactions directly leads to increased AUM growth and client loyalty.
In this BLOG, Unblu’s Danny Baggs examines this and highlights how generative AI can help.
PIMFA Operations Forum
The next Operations Forum will take place online on Thursday 25 April from 15:00 to 16:00.
The agenda includes:
• Euroclear update – latest news from Euroclear and CREST - Charlie Pugh, Euroclear
• Regulatory update – Yasmin Ataullah, Senior Policy Adviser, PIMFA
• Compeer presentation – James Brown, Head of Client Services, Compeer
• ‘TeX excellence’ presentation – Nigel Jacques-Pettinger, TeX Operations Manager
The next Operations Forum will be held on Thursday 23 May from 15:00 – 16:00.
The PIMFA Forums are open to representatives from all PIMFA Members and Associate firms.
If you or any of your colleagues would like to attend the Operations Forum and are not currently on our distribution list, please email Heidi Bryant.
Financial Conduct Authority speech on culture and women in financial services
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published a keynote speech by Sheree Howard (Executive Director of Risk and Compliance Oversight) delivered at PIMFA’s Women’s Symposium 2024.
The speech highlighted:
• The under representation of women in financial services, both as employees and as investors.
• The importance of having the right culture so that female talent is attracted to the industry, promoted on merit and retained.
• High-profile cases of non-financial misconduct acting as a deterrent to women pursuing a career in financial services.
• That nothing in an non-disclosure agreements can prevent an individual from reporting an incident to the FCA.
• The gender wealth gap and how language can be one of the main obstacles to investing for women.
Read the full speech here and the PIMFA press release here.
Multi-Association event
'The advent of T+1 and what it means for the global investment industry'
Event Details
CISI, 20 Fenchurch Street, London EC3 | 25 April 2024 | 15:00 for 15:30 - 17:30 followed by refreshments.
Over the last few months, a number of different trade associations from the securities and investment world, including PIMFA, have come together to discuss industry progress towards accelerated settlement, catalysed by the North American move to T+1 planned for May this year, as well as the recently published report from the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce.
This Group, brought together by Gary Wright, Director of ISITC-Europe, are holding a special in-person event on the 25th April at CISI HQ, where special guest Andrew Douglas, Chairman of the Technical Task Force which was established by the Treasury to take the initial Charlie Geffen report forward and to find areas that need change, will give an update on the Technology Task Force work and lay out what is going to happen this year and next.
Full details are available here
Places are very limited and subject to confirmation so, If you would like to participate in this roundtable discussion, please email cathy.wright@isitc-europe.com to request attendance.
Financial Conduct Authority new webpage for asset management authorisation
The FCA has published a new webpage which explains some of the common errors firms make when applying for authorisation to work in the UK asset management sector.
The FCA sets out a non-exhaustive list of areas of concern which have led to delays when determining applications and have reduced firms' chances of a successful application. Examples listed include senior management lacking the requisite experience or qualifications, office locations outside the UK, business models, conflicts of interest and outsourcing.
Access the webpage here
Financial Conduct Authority: Retirement income market data 2022/23
The FCA has published its retirement income market data 2022/23 and the publication shows that:
• The total number of pension plans accessed for the first time in 2022/23 increased by 4.8%.
• Sales of annuities decreased in 2022/23 by 13.6%.
• 39.1% of pension pots entered into drawdown with no advice or guidance (just under a third). This is a growing trend based on the data.
• The lack of advice was more prevalent among lower-valued pots (less than £50,000).
• The number of people booking Pension Wise guidance appointments has also fallen.
• The number of DB to DC transfers continued to fall from 26,619 in 2021/22 to 18,073 in 2022/23.
Access the data here.
PRESS RELEASES
Culture in financial services still needs to improve to better serve women
PIMFA urges Financial Conduct Authority to provide firms with the
PIMFA WealthTech and Morningstar invite FinTechs to showcase ESG...
PIMFA welcomes FCA proposals for Sustainability Disclosure PRESS
Professional Adviser: Justine Randall: There has never been a better time
Investment Week: FCA's Sheree Howard: Firms' culture must change
FT Adviser: FCA: Industry in danger of ‘going backwards’ with female
Professional Paraplanner: FCA calls for industry cultural shift
PIMFA welcomes the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposals for
READ MORE
TheWealthNet: FCA director stresses need for cultural change at firms
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