A spokesperson from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has accused the Personal Finance Society (PFS) of breaching a confidentiality agreement as the row between the professional bodies continues.

Yesterday the PFS blamed a lack of CII directors attending for its decision to abandon an Emergency PFS Board meeting.

The PFS President Caroline Stuart said that there were not enough CII directors to form a quorum, a minimum number of directors needed for the meeting to take place.

The CII told Financial Planning Today that the PFS’s statement about the Emergency Board meeting was a breach of board confidentiality.

The CII spokesperson said: “The newly appointed Institute Directors have all confirmed they can attend the scheduled PFS Board meeting in January, and provided their availability for several different dates, should the PFS Board want to meet.

“However, sadly, the statement issued by the President of the PFS Board today is another contravention of board confidentiality. We have written to the President of the PFS Board to express our concern.”

The PFS wants to hold an Emergency Board Meeting to discuss its next steps within the 30 day consultation period declared by the CII under the Articles of Association. Some PFS members are also calling for an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the issues.

The CII appointed three new board members to the PFS board in an attempt to take control of its subsidiary, citing concerns over governance.

The PFS said that the President and CEO of the PFS were not notified about the appointments until the morning of the announcement and shared its dismay at how members were informed via a membership email which the PFS President and CEO were not shown before it was issued.

The PFS criticised the CII for not inviting a representative from the PFS to join the morning briefing hosted by the CII, which only came to the PFS’ President and CEO’s attention following press coverage of the event.

The PFS is a subsidiary of the CII, and its articles of association give the CII the right to appoint directors to the PFS board. The two organisations have been at loggerheads over the structure and direction of the PFS. The CII last year axed the role of PFS CEO held by Keith Richards.

The PFS board is currently made up of five PFS member director and two institute directors, with the CII appointing three further institute directors which it said will, “equalise the PFS board with immediate effect.”

The CII said it intervened at the PFS due to concern over governance issues. CII CEO Alan Vallance said that the PFS had set up new committees without CII approval and also held meetings without informing CII directors who were entitled to attend.

Mediation has been taking place between the two organisations over the past few months but was ended recently by the PFS, according to the CII.

• A group of PFS members has launched a campaign called 'Our PFS' to fight the CII's full takeover of the PFS board. The website is here: https://ourpfs.co.uk/