Burges Salmon takeaways from the TISA Annual Conference 2025

On 12 November 2025, members of our legal team joined industry leaders at the TISA Annual Conference. This year’s theme, ‘Building an Inclusive and Resilient Financial Future’, set the stage for thought-provoking discussions and practical insights. This article summarises the key themes from this year’s event. 

Financial Resilience for UK Households: A standout panel explored the ongoing challenges UK households face in achieving financial resilience, particularly amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. The discussion spotlighted:

• The generally positive reception of the Government’s recently published Financial Inclusion Strategy.

• The importance of multi-channel support and inclusive design to ensure that diverse needs are central to product and service development. 

• The promising integration of financial education into the national curriculum from 2028.

• The sobering statistic that 61% of the population currently finds it hard to save, with increasing complexity in individual financial situations.

• The potential for a similar framework to be considered for debt management, should targeted support prove successful when implemented next year. 

FCA Keynote: Sarah Pritchard, Deputy CEO, highlighted significant challenges in the pensions landscape and with declining homeownership, noting that over half of UK adults do not understand enough about pensions to make informed decisions and that if people are unable to get on the housing ladder there will be an increasing number of retired renters, putting further pressure on pension provision. There was a focus on the introduction of targeted support and pensions dashboards to help tackle these challenges. With the over-arching message being a focus on rebalancing risk and a call for firms to “be bold” and “to take advantage of the flexibility” within the FCA’s rules. 

Policy and Practice: A fireside chat with the TISA policy team delved into:

• The anticipated changes to FCA retail disclosure requirements due later this year and noting the call to take advantage of the flexibility in existing rules. 

• The challenge of offering targeted support under current data privacy laws, which restrict outreach to only the most engaged 25% of customers, often missing those most in need. TISA are currently working with government and industry to find a solution to this. 

Harnessing emerging technologies: The panel, featuring Tom Whittaker (Head of AI advisory) delivered an interesting discussion on the growing role of AI both within professional firms and in our everyday lives. The speakers discussed the complexity in developing and maintaining trust in AI. The panellists also urged against adopting new technology for its own sake, advocating for a problem first approach, identifying the challenge and developing a solution rather than applying AI to processes that the AI was not designed to address. 

Rethinking Retirement: Another highlight was the session on retirement, which emphasised the shift towards digital engagement and accessibility through increasing use of pensions apps. Furthermore, the future introduction of pension dashboards promises a step-change, enabling individuals to view and manage all their pensions in one place.

Final Thoughts: The conference underscored the sector’s commitment to inclusion, innovation, and resilience. Whilst there are existing challenges there are also interesting opportunities, such as the introduction of targeted support and pensions dashboards and the use of developing technologies.

You can read more thought leadership like this by subscribing to our monthly financial services regulation update by clicking here. You can meet our financial services experts by clicking through to our financial services team page here. 

Suzanne Padmore (Dispute Resolution), Tom Whittaker (Dispute Resolution and AI Advisory), Mamunul Wahid (Pensions), and Beth Jewell (Funds and Financial Regulation) attended the TISA Annual Conference 2025. 

Authors: Beth Jewell, Suzanne Padmore, Tom Whittaker and Mamunul Wahid

We will explore the measures required to broaden access to financial products and services, the important role of emerging technologies in managing financial vulnerability and boosting customer engagement, and why it is time to rethink retirement so more people can achieve a secure and fulfilling later life.

https://www.tisa.uk.com/product/annual-conference-2025/