Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen MP has said the government will support the financial services sector’s recovery by doing “whatever is needed” for a rapid pickup.

He said he wants to see “the maximum and most rapid bounce back” from the Coronavirus pandemic in his opening address to delegates at PIMFA’s inaugural two day Virtual Fest which started today, an online conference for advisers and wealth managers.

Wealth management trade body PIMFA welcomed the Treasury minister as an opening keynote speaker to its first ever major virtual conference.

Mr Glen said: “We have gone through difficult times as a country and as an industry before and we will come through the other side. The government stands ready to do whatever we need to do to support the industry to return to better times through the back end of this calendar year and into 2021.”

The current crisis, he said, had highlighted how critical financial advice and support was to the country, PIMFA said.

He said however it was “very difficult to give a clear projection” on when recovery would get under way. 

He added that the government would listen to the concerns of wealth managers and financial advisers and work closely with them to make sure there was “a joined up approach” between industry, government and regulators and a strong bounceback to the economy over the next 18 months.

He said: “The fusion of capital markets and retail investors working together is key. Business is going to have a lot more debt. There is a lot of work going on across the City and we welcome ideas that are well considered and that we can work with.” 

Liz Field, chief executive of PIMFA, said: “Wealth managers and financial advisers stand ready to support the government in safeguarding individuals’ financial and mental wellbeing and helping our economy return to normality as soon as possible.”

PIMFA’s online Virtual Fest takes place today and tomorrow and registrations remain open. Find out more here.

PIMFA was created in 2017 by the merger of the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) and the Wealth Management Association (WMA).