Ahead of the fifth annual II Leadership Summit 2026, we meet the industry leaders taking part in the Question Time-style TV debate.
Rob Allen is CEO of IFGL. He began his career in financial services in 2001 and has held senior leadership roles in some of the most well-known and recognised names in the industry, including Nat West Group, HSBC Bank, RBS Group and Westpac Banking Corporation. Prior to becoming CEO of IFGL in May 2025, he led the transformation, consolidation and sale into private equity of Independent Wealth Planners, a group of more than 30 Independent Financial planners.
On the most significant industry change in the past five years, Allen says the advent of technology - accelerated by the shock of Covid - has opened up more opportunities to improve service to customers and advisers through automation. But he maintains that the biggest asset in any organisation is the people that work in that organisation. Providing great customer service, human to human, often at very difficult moments in customers lives, continues to be the real differentiator for any business, he says.
The II Leadership Summit premieres on II and IA today, Thursday 29 October, at 4pm (UK time).
