A bold rebrand sets the tone

The Verve Evolution event delivered on its promise of change - so much so that it transformed itself in real time. With a bold rebrand unveiled at the very start, the event became Verve Transformation, setting the tone for a day dedicated to reinvention, innovation, and forward-thinking.

Verve CEO, Cathi Harrison, embodied this shift with a lightning costume change, and introduced the Transformation Zone, a space where delegates could explore a range of transformational challenges both professional and personal. It was a physical manifestation of the event’s core theme: transformation in action.

Keynote speakers that embodied change

The keynote speakers brought this theme to life with powerful stories of change:

  • Nick Leeson spoke candidly about his role in the collapse of Barings Bank in the 1990s, offering a sobering reflection on the consequences of unchecked transformation.
  • Jo Salter, the first woman to qualify for the RAF’s fast jets programme, shared how she helped reshape the culture and operations of a traditionally male-dominated field.
  • Closer to the financial planning world, Scott Johnson from Vanguard discussed their ‘dynamic spending’ approach to decumulation - positioned as a transformative middle ground between inflation-tracking models and the conventional 4% rule.

Our voice on the Financial Planning Club podcast

Nick Green, our Strategic and Proposition Director, joined the Financial Planning Club podcast during the event to discuss the Verve event. In a wide-ranging and candid conversation, Nick shared the story behind his career journey, weighed in on hot-button issues facing financial planning business owners today (most notably the complexities surrounding Letter of Authority (LoA), a topic close to our mission of simplifying and standardising processes across the industry), and revealed what financial planning problem he would fix if handed a magic wand. 

The full podcast is coming soon and will be available on the Financial Planning Club website. 

Standards as the engine for transformation

Transformation isn’t just about big ideas - it’s about the standards, systems, and collaborations that make those ideas a reality. Our standards continue to transform the infrastructure of financial services by:

  • Streamlining pension transfers.
  • Enabling adviser and consumer access to the most competitive enhanced annuity rates.
  • Supporting advisers and providers in delivering faster, more consistent outcomes.

As the financial planning profession continues to evolve, we remain focused on powering that evolution - enabling change behind the scenes, so that advisers, providers, and consumers can connect more easily, make better-informed decisions, and spend less time battling process and more time creating value.