FIDI Customer Relations Officer Lydia Cope reports on the outcomes of the FIDI Delegates Meeting and subsequent General Assembly, held on 26 March as part of the 2023 FIDI Conference in Bangkok
The FIDI Delegates Meeting is a forum for an exchange of views between FIDI’s regional Associations, which represent their members, and the FIDI Board. During the Delegates’ Meeting, attendees heard about FIDI’s activities in 2022 and the latest FIDI service updates, and voted on key matters in the subsequent General Assembly. Highlights of this year’s meeting included:
Membership
FIDI membership numbers are rising positively, with almost 70 companies currently in the application process.
FIDI Marcoms
FIDI Marcoms has been busy recently, hosting online sessions and producing industry reports such as the FIDI Focus State of the Industry report, available for download on FIDI’s website.
Affiliates were reminded that the FIDI Marketing Toolkit exists to help FIDI Affiliates in their marketing efforts, and a special session for marketing representatives was held in May to present the marketing tools available to Affiliates to maximise their affiliation.
FIDI Academy
The FIDI Academy continues to grow, with more than 5,000 students receiving Academy training in 2022. Affiliates are encouraged to undertake the free Corporate Sustainability programme. This five-module online course takes four hours to complete and is a popular training topic to be covered for corporate clients.
A corporate sales seminar is also in development and a new DSP seminar will take place in November.
FAIM 2022
Delegates received a summary of the FAIM 2022 rollout. FAIM’s key ingredients are based on credibility through a third-party audit, relevancy with our industry, and consistency in audit methodology, which make it a very strong quality programme.
Thanks to the digitalisation requirement in FAIM 2022, the FAIM Coordination Centre is aiming for a fully remote audit for all Affiliates from 2026.
FASI
FASI saw a significant payout in 2022, as a result of a Latin American member leaving FIDI, which severely impacted the fund. As FASI is the most robust payment protection programme in the industry, the Board is considering ways of strengthening the system further. From 1 January 2024, frequent offenders – those who are regularly reported in FASI – will be published on FIDINET, in a bid to deter these companies from not paying their overdue invoices.
At the request of FIDI Austria, Delegates debated lowering the final deadline for membership termination, which is currently at 240 days of invoice ageing. Delegates were overwhelmingly in favour of this motion and the FIDI Board will work on determining how many days this will be lowered by and come with a proposal for a future Delegates’ Meeting vote.
Netting
Regarding netting, FIDI’s Secretary General confirmed that FIDI, a not-for-profit association, requires permission from the European Banking Authority (EBA) to operate as a netting centre organisation. At the time of this meeting, FIDI was still waiting for a response from the EBA.
FIDI Conference
The Delegates formally approved Edinburgh as FIDI’s next Conference location. The Conference will be held from 12-15 May 2024. Because of associated financial risks, FIDI said it was no longer considering holding a conference in Israel.
At the meeting, several FIDI Associations showed interest in hosting a future FIDI Conference. Selection rules will be sent to them so they can determine, with their members, if they wish to officially apply.
Greener Mobility Coalition
Delegates received an update about the Greener Mobility Coalition, which presented the roadmap towards a greener mobility industry in February this year. It is now forming working groups to look at creating common definitions; education and awareness; certification and standards; carbon measurement and reporting; and other areas.
Governance
This year’s meeting provided Delegates with an opportunity to talk about their role as Association heads in a roundtable discussion. A follow-up to this exercise was scheduled, with a Delegates’ Meeting focusing solely on governance matters on 31 May.
As Phil Wells reached his maximum term, Miguel Florez was elected onto the Board nomination committee (BNC).
The Board has implemented a code of conduct applicable to anyone acting on behalf of FIDI in its various committees and groups.
FIDI’s finances were presented and subsequently approved by the General Assembly. Because of high inflation, a five per cent membership fees increase for Affiliates and affiliated Branches was also approved by the General Assembly.
FIDI Board members Aulina Mithal Sood, Cedric Castro and Derek Duffy were re-elected to the Board. Dale Collins stepped down from the FIDI Board because of a change in employment status, and Sebastian Laporta was voted in as the latest Board member.
The Presidential transition took place immediately after the General Assembly, with outgoing President Laura Ganon receiving a standing ovation for her contribution to the Board and Derek Duffy elected as new FIDI President.
You can find the full minutes and supporting documentation at FIDI Governance | FIDINET
