Becoming a member of the Association of Financial Mutuals
Membership of AFM is open to financial mutual and not-for-profit organisations whose essential purpose is to operate for the benefit of their customers. AFM members are also expected to demonstrate high standards of corporate governance for which the AFM Corporate Governance Code provides a sector-specific interpretation of good practice.
Membership is open to other organisations at the discretion of the Board of Directors, who share some or all of the values of mutual organisations, including but not restricted to:
- Working in the best interests of customers
- Are democratically governed by or on behalf of their Members o Have developed clear strategies for fairness
- Not-for-profit organisations
- Avoid placing shareholder returns above the achievement of a good deal for customers
- Actively support the communities they do business in.
Our constitution sets out further the high standards of governance and transparency with which the AFM operates.
The benefits of membership
AFM’s work is centred around 6 core, member-driven priorities, outlined below:
- Training and Development – we run a wide range of regular and ad hoc training and development opportunities for members, including sector/role specific forums, roundtables, webinars and on-line training, both face-to-face and virtual. We don’t charge for events, other than our annual conference (at cost), and offer training platforms and other services to members (again at cost).
- Regulatory engagement and policy influencing, through numerous responses to regulatory and government consultations, frequent dialogue with regulators and collaboration with the wider mutual sector
- Governance – encouraging and supporting members to deliver high standards of governance, supported by the AFM Corporate Governance Code and the Mutual Diversity Alliance
- Working together as a sector, to improve efficiency, spread adoption of good practice and deliver better value for money for customers
- Value for money by continuously seeking opportunities to deliver value to members
- Sector promotion and PR work, to promote the benefits of mutuality and corporate diversity to policymakers and other stakeholders.
Cost of membership
Each Member pays an annual membership fee every year at the beginning of our financial year (1 July), or when requested, which is agreed by the Board of Directors, and reviewed annually at a General Meeting. The cost of annual subscription for 2023-2024 is £4,400 + VAT, although a higher rate applies to larger members (£6,600 + VAT), and a lower rate for small non-directive insurers (£1,650+ VAT).
If you would like further detail, or to discuss becoming a member, please contact [email protected]