The PMI has two significant events this year. Firstly, it is our 45th birthday operation and, secondly, we are reaching the end of the five year plan we developed in 2017.

The PMI has always been there for the sector; it is the ‘go to buddy’ when you needed help, access, or even someone to moan at, but it was also the ‘comfort blanket’ for support, for education, for advice and for insight and, from then until now, it continues to be so. When we looked at developing a five year strategy, in what seems like an eternity ago, in 2017, no-one could ever have forecast the world we would be living in now; the breadth of change and the acceptance of new ways of working. We knew where we wanted to be, but we could never have understood how we were going to get there.

Pensions Aspects June 2021

I make no apologies for highlighting the progress we have made over this period of time at the PMI because, to us, COVID-19 was not the detractor for improvement, it acted as the accelerant. What actually happened has transformed the way we work, and has transformed the way we think and operate as a provider, as an educator and as a body that supports the sector. Furthermore, not only has it not stopped us, but it has pushed forward the ideas we have, the strategy we forecast and the technologies we wanted to embrace. Due to the pandemic, we all find ourselves in the situation where we feel compelled to hold the digital experience as the summum bonum of all the PMI processes, as we move to an era of ‘digital by default’.

Over the next few months, as we celebrate our birthday, you will see the roll out of more events, more insight, more collegiate ways of working and, excitingly, the launch of the PMI Academy.

Developing the Academy formed part of our 2022 Vision. It has been an iterative process over the last five years with new ideas, new philosophies and new people. The key to fulfilling this intent was always to expand the current learning and education portfolio from standard qualifications, seminars and CPD to also including apprenticeships, bespoke and short-course training, and societal financial education.

The PMI as an organisation already had an excellent reputation for delivering the standard qualifications required by the industry, and we are now winning awards for these efforts. But it was never enough. It is now the intent of the PMI, with the Academy, to provide a coherent and easily accessible range of educational products under one roof, where learners are at the centre of our delivery. The same learners have to be supplemented by relevant, progressive and expandable choices though a range of different educational approaches and products which include events, insight and the ability to ask the right questions of the right people.

As we open the Academy doors we welcome working with organisations such as Penfida, BlackRock, and Spence and Partners, who will be the first organisations to deliver training as Academy partners. There are more sector organisations waiting in the wings to join us, for the exciting and developmental approach to collegiate working across the sector.

We need a well functioning and well regulated financial sector as this establishes the foundation for a strong, stable economy. It facilitates sustainable growth and job creation, improves living standards for all and, by association, contributes to society wellbeing. By empowering individuals and organisations through education, via the Academy, and providing them with the opportunity to be better educated, to network, and to share best practices, we can increase the effectiveness of working for, and within, regulatory frameworks, structures, policies and practices. With the Academy, the PMI places itself firmly at the heart of these processes for the pensions sector.

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