Board Digest - April 2026

Talking of travel, it was a revised journey for all of us as we navigated our way to our new London home for this Board meeting, at 30 Old Broad Street. We are delighted to be able to provide colleagues and members with a facility that is more conducive than our previous accommodation to collaboration, in all its various forms. We will be formally opening the office on 15 April, from which time members will be able to take advantage of a new lounge, should you require a space to work or socialise when in the City. There has been a collective keenness across the Board and membership to reestablish that opportunity since leaving Insurance Hall back in 2018. I'm also pleased to announce that we are naming this members' space in honour of Brian Caruth, our great friend and immediate past-Vice President of Local Institutes, who gave so much to our professional community and who sadly passed at the end of last year.   

As is customary, we began our meeting with reports from our various Committees. We agreed that it would be appropriate to hold our next Board development day in May on the topic of cyber risk. The Institute has done much in recent years to establish its credentials in this space, including in achieving Cyber Essentials+ status. However, the prevalence of this risk - in isolation as well as in combination with others, such as the rapid adoption of AI - is significant and evolving. Other decisions included the ratification of the appointments of Dr Alan Whittle and Adam Harper to the PFS Board. We also had a positive conversation about how we can further support Local Insurance Institutes and PFS Regional Committees to work more closely if they so prefer, given the experiences of some trailblazers, such as Aberdeen. On that note, we welcomed the appointment of our new Head of Networks and Communities, who will begin work later this month (April).

Elsewhere, we were informed how the US-Israel-Iran war has created uncertainty and disruption for our members, partners and colleagues across the Middle East. If you are in the region, we hope you and your loved ones are safe. Please reach out to us if you feel we can help - we're here to support you. We also received a summary of our Chief Executive's recent visit to Hong Kong and China, where he was left in doubt about the high esteem with which the Institute continues to be held. We are proud to set the highest standards for the professions we serve, and it was pleasing to hear how our reputation for quality resonates far and wide.

The remainder of our meeting concentrated on exploring updates and matters around our Professional Pathways and Member Modernisation projects, as well as work commissioned around apprenticeships. We'll have more to say on some of these at the time of our Network Conference, to be held in St Albans in June.  

As we concluded, we took the opportunity to capture this first meeting in our new office for posterity. We will next gather for a joint meeting with the PFS Board on 19 May. 

Dr Helen Phillips
Chair, CII Group Board