Productivity Potential: Driving Change in UK Financial Services

🗓️ Mon 6th Oct | 🕛 09:30-12:00 |📍 EQ Bristol, BS1 6AX | 🎟️ Free to attend!

We are delighted to co-deliver this event with The Productivity Institute, and as part of BTF+

Join us to examine how leadership, technology, and regional productivity shape UK financial services - and how we define productivity metrics in a changing landscape.

Expect frank and thought-provoking keynote and a panel discussion, diving into these questions and more!

🎤 Keynotes

Evanna Fitzgerald · Partner · EY - Lived experiences and insights on driving efficiency, drawn from Evanna's extensive experience leading global banking transformations.

Palie Smart · Professor of Enterprise · The Productivity Institute - Insights on regional productivity data and challenges in Bristol and the South West.

💬 Our Panellists

• Chair | Laura Gemmel · Founder & CEO · Taught By Humans

• Palie Smart · Professor of Enterprise · The Productivity Institute & University of Bristol

• Luis Hernandez · Associate Director · S&W

• David Henderson · Head of Pensions · Penny

• Jaymie Thomas · CTO · Protect Commercial Insurance

💡 Topics We'll Cover

• The real-world potential (and limitations) of AI and automation in driving productivity

• The role of leadership in driving cultural change and long-term productivity gains

• How do we measure productivity in an evolving landscape?

• Regional productivity trends and challenges facing the South West.

❔ Who Is This Event For?

While the event is centred on financial services, the themes explored will be relevant across sectors. We welcome professionals working in strategy, operations, innovation, or leadership roles, and individuals who are curious about the future of productivity, AI, and technology adoption.

🎪 About This Event

UK financial services is a sector with higher-than-average productivity levels, yet one experiencing a sharper decline in recent years.

At this event, we’ll explore the impact of regulatory demands and workplace culture on employee output, and ask whether rapid advancements in AI and automation - often hailed as a productivity game-changer - will deliver meaningful change.

Crucially, we’ll also consider how productivity is being measured. Are traditional metrics still fit for purpose in the evolving world of work in 2025 and beyond?

🔎 Future Finance Research

This event runs alongside our Collaborative Challenge Programme - a research roundtable series bringing together stakeholders from industry, policy and academia to co-create tangible solutions to key sector challenges.

At this event, we’ll share early insights from our current challenge run, focused on productivity in UK financial services. Further findings will follow.

If you’re interested in contributing to the research or receiving the final report, please get in touch at: hello@future-finance.tech

Timings

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Future Finance part of a programme called Next Generation Professional and Financial Services, delivered by Innovate UK and ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council).

This programme aims to help professional service sectors, including accounting and law, and the financial service sectors, including insurance, lending, advisory and payment services, develop and use digital technologies.