I spoke about the unpredictable environment we are currently experiencing and this continues unabated! The awful fire at Grenfell Tower and the subsequent implications make us all stop in our tracks and question how this could happen. The onset of July will hopefully lead to better times; the start of Wimbledon, hopes of a return to summer weather.
At MALG HQ we won’t be slowing down over the summer though. It’s now less than five months until the MALG Conference 2017 and I’m very pleased to announce the fantastic lineup of speakers and outline programme – see below for details!
On the subject of great speakers, following her success in the General Election, we’ve added Yvonne Fovargue MP to the lineup at our National Members’ Meeting & AGM on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing her, and those of you that are attending, there! (Please note last minute change of venue: The meeting will now be held at DeVere Holborn Bars, 138-142 Holborn, London, EC1N 2NQ, a two minute walk from The Money Advice Service offices and Chancery Lane station.)
Conference theme
This year’s conference is going to be completely different to previous ones. We’ve got a new-look, a new venue, and a new format. We want it to be a ‘stand out’ event in the financial service calendar with speakers, topics, and interactive elements that you won’t see elsewhere.
The theme will be ‘shaping the future of money advice’ and delegates (including advisers, creditors, collections professionals, enforcement agents, policy-makers, regulators, fintech companies and other stakeholders) will go away with game-changing solutions to the big challenges of the next 10 years and beyond. As well as keynote presentations, there will be an interactive fintech exhibition, a ‘speed networking’ session, and workshops that will drill down into the most pressing current and future issues.
Keynote speakers
Our two keynote speakers from outside the advice sector will kick off the day by getting us all to think differently about the future of money advice in the wider context of the economy.
Dr Emma Stone, Head of Policy & Research at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation will present on solving poverty through re-thinking markets/growth and Anna Laycock, Executive Director at the Finance Innovation Lab, will be discussing her passion for tackling the roots of social injustice in economic inequality, and her belief that we will only find lasting solutions to our most pressing social and environmental problems if we transform the values and power relations embedded in our global financial system.
Workshop presenters
We’ve secured some of the leading thinkers on hot topics to deliver interactive, practical workshops on topics from vulnerability to coding.
They include:
Chris Fitch: Vulnerability Lead at the Money Advice Trust and Research Fellow at Bristol University’s Personal Finance Research Centre, Chris is one of the UK’s leading practitioners on vulnerability in the financial services, water, energy and retail sector.
Alex Lewis: In November 2013, Alex Lewis contracted Strep A Toxic Shock Syndrome, Septicaemia and Necrotising Fasciitis which resulted in quadruple amputation and extensive skin grafts and facial reconstruction as the infection ravaged his face and mouth as well as his limbs. He now gives “A Minor Setback” motivational talks.
Freddy Kelly: Freddy co-founded of Credit Kudos in 2015 as a tool for using consumer transaction data to build highly accurate and transparent credit score-cards and affordability metrics, making decisioning possible for the previously “unbanked” as well as those with nonexistent or “thin” credit files.
Laura Bunt: With a background in policy research and analysis, Laura Bunt is now Chief Digital Officer at Citizens Advice. Her role revolves around transforming services to help people solve problems through accessible, actionable digital content and services.
Read full profiles for all the speakers confirmed so far.
Full programme
View the full MALG Conference 2017 programme now.
Remaining sponsorship and exhibition packages
All of the not-for-profit exhibition stands and half of the commercial exhibition stands at the MALG Conference 2017 are now gone! If you would like one of the remaining commercial exhibition stands (which are priced at £2,000 and designed for software and fintech companies to demo the latest tools), please let me know as soon as possible.
We have also now secured a number of sponsors for different elements of the event but still have a few packages remaining, starting from £1,500. We are also looking for a creditor sponsor and an adviser sponsor to sponsor the ‘speed networking’ session. Again, please let me know as soon as possible if you’d like to discuss a bespoke package to suit your needs/budget.
Find out more here.
In other news…
MALG’s Chair Liz Barclay sat on the panel at Monzo Bank’s June Open Office event about responsible lending. Topics discussed including the lack of capacity in the debt advice sector and the need to attract new tech-savvy talent. You can watch the live streaming of the event here.
Liz also attended the British Banking Association’s #RetailBanking Conference last week. She will be writing a blog covering some of the key insights, which I’ll share in my next Bob’s Blog.