Coronavirus update from Vivienne Artz

We are all of us now affected to a greater or lesser extent with the increasing escalation of the response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, and no doubt you have received many communications on this already.

I am writing to give you a brief update on how we are responding at Women in Banking and Finance. As a volunteer-led organisation, we are individually following the requirements of our respective employer organisations, with most of us working remotely at this stage, and for the foreseeable weeks ahead. Our Members who would usually host events, are not able to do so at this time, and we are also following UK Government Guidance, and have taken the following actions:

All WIBF events across the UK throughout March, April and May are now postponed until July onwards. We will revisit at the end of May to determine whether we need to push this out to September or beyond. The WIBF website is being updated with the revised details.

The AGM scheduled for March 23rd will now be held virtually, rather than an in-person event.

We are exploring with our speakers whether and to what extent we can continue to make some events available as a webinar or similar. Details will be on the WIBF website.

Our mentoring programme will continue, and I would encourage members to engage in virtual connections which will be all the more important during these difficult times.

While it is disappointing and disruptive to have to make these changes, we need to ensure that we are taking appropriate measures to safeguard our Members and Volunteers, and comply with the guidance from the UK Government.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to all our volunteers, particularly for all the additional time and effort they have contributed to help us navigate these changes.

We should also remember that we are an organisation that brings Members together to connect, challenge and inspire each other. While we may not be able to do this in person for the time being, we can continue to do this virtually, and I would encourage each of you to keep connected, not just with each other, but with those within your organisation and the broader financial services sector as well. WIBF members can connect with each other via the Members’ directory in their profile section.

Take care and stay well.

With best wishes,
Vivienne