The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has denied allegations of governance failures made by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) arguing they were “not supported by any documentary evidence”.
It also called for an Extraordinary General Meeting of the society and a survey and webinars to hear from its members on how it should tackle the ongoing dispute with the CII.
In a statement issued by member directors and co-opted advisers of the PFS board, the PFS said it wanted to formally express its “severe disappointment” after the CII revealed a list of “serious and significant” governance failures it alleged occurred at the PFS.
The CII said these failures prompted it to launch a controversial board takeover late last month, for which it gave the PFS CEO 15 minutes notice.
However an emergency PFS board meeting scheduled to respond to the saga in the week before Christmas had to be cancelled as the CII appointees did not attend.
In its statement totday, the PFS said: “In particular we note that the comments made about governance failures and other failings by the PFS board are not true, and not supported by any documentary evidence.
“We remain committed to making a success of a member-led professional body working in the interests of its members.
“The CII actions and false statements have made that much more difficult.
“In our view, giving members a say is the right way forward, and we do not support the actions of the CII board to subvert the PFS constitution, and seek to outnumber the democratically elected board.”
The PFS board added that in its view next steps should be:
- A survey to be issued to all members to enable the views of PFS membership to be gathered on the way forward
- A programme of webinars over the next couple of weeks to hear as many views as possible
- The calling of an Extraordinary General Meeting in accordance with the Articles of Association in the next two weeks.
“We will work to deliver this and urge all members to get involved and provide their feedback and view on their PFS before the end of the consultation period on 19th January 2023,” the statement concluded.
Heath & Protection has contacted the CII for comment.
