The Financial Services Council (FSC) has reset the clock on its delta-interrupted annual conference with a dialed-down physical event lined-up in for early December.
In a note to members last week, the FSC said the live event (originally due to take place over September 22-23) had been rebooked for December 6-7 at the same Auckland Cordis Hotel venue.
However, the December ‘Regenerations’ gathering – dependent on Auckland sinking to COVID Alert Level 1 by that date – would feature a reduced program with mainly keynote presentations along with the gala dinner and industry awards, according to FSC chief, Richard Klipin.
But under the ‘Regenerations Reimagined’ tagline, other conference content would be delivered via a series of smaller – likely online – events over October and November.
“Keeping people safe is our guiding principle in making this decision,” the FSC announcement says. “We are taking advice and guidance from the government, Ministry of Health, the FSC Board and members to ensure that any decision we make is to the benefit of the community.”
As well as suite of political figures – including Finance Minister Grant Robertson and National commerce spokesperson, Andrew Bayly – the Regenerations conference had also booked Financial Markets Authority chief, Rob Everett, for his last hurrah on the FSC main stage.
The annual FSC 2020 ‘Generations’ conference was converted to digital-only format last October following an earlier ill-timed COVID outbreak in Auckland.
Over 400 delegates were expected to register for the 2021 event.
Meanwhile, Klipin said the FSC was primed to launch further research pieces following on from the ‘Money and You’ triptych – covering digital platforms, KiwiSaver and problems facing ‘generation rent’ – this year.
He said the FSC had also recently established a diversity committee to provide insight and guidance on how to build broader representation across the industry.