President’s Message – November 2022

It’s a busy time at the WIBF towers. Next week sees our lunchtime National Awards for Achievement ceremony, on 17th November, with (nearly) all quarters of the UK represented. Our footprint is something we are inordinately proud of and we plan to set up in more locations given that two thirds of those working in financial services are not based in London.
 
That evening, we are trialling a new format as well, putting on a party in London to celebrate our awards winners, watch some unique entertainment and, above all, have a relaxed and fun evening centred around networking in the wonderfully inclusive venue of Proud Embankment.
 
As we are now one month into WIBF’s new financial year it seems timely to reflect on our progress against our strategic goals. 2022 has seen us move to become a social enterprise, joining Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) where nearly 50% of members have female CEOs. We’ve launched a new branch and recruited our first ever permanent employee – Nicky King, Head of Corporate Partnerships. And our new digital platform is currently in UAT testing and will launch imminently, representing months of hard work by volunteers.
 
We have also seen a dramatic increase in membership enquiries and are looking at over 75% of growth in corporate membership, including many in our very exciting new SME category – where we celebrate the diversity, agility and innovation that small businesses bring to the financial services ecosystem.
 
The final part of our strategic plan has been to refresh our logo and brand assets to reflect WIBF’s ambition, our mission to create collaboration and partnerships, as well as support our evolution to a social enterprise. We are immensely proud of our heritage, and I very much see my role as a curator of this wonderful brand, as presidents have before me, keeping it relevant and future focused for the next generation of leaders.

I hope you like our new design based around a concept called Unity, designed by our creative partners, Inkling. Inkling has focused on what makes WIBF a great organisation – put simply the people behind it. To celebrate the unity and support system within WIBF, they have created a modern and contemporary redesigned logo, linking the letters together to represent this.the letters together to represent this.

We look forward to seeing you next week either online or in person at the awards celebrations.

Best wishes,

Anna Lane