Report from the AGM 2026

The M25 Consortium AGM 2026 took place online on 28 April 2026.

We had very good attendance from Member Representatives and proxies. As well as receiving updates from the Chair, Treasurer, and cpd25 Chair on the 2024-2025 year, the Representatives voted on a number of proposals including subscriptions and budget for the year 2026-2027, new members, the M25 Consortium Strategy 2026-29, and a proposal to review of the Articles of Association.

The Chair noted that membership is still strong and our cpd25 programme continues to thrive. In 2024-2025 we launched our Innovation Fund, initially with a pilot year, and awarded funding to our Diversity Working Group who put on an excellent event on allyship. This year we have had two applications to the Fund and are pleased to make funding available to members for innovations reflecting our strategic aims.

We also launched our Sustainability Working Group. They ran a well-attended session at our Annual Conference in 2025, our first in person Conference for six years, which was a highlight of the year. It was a very successful event, bringing the M25 Consortium community together, with fantastic speakers and parallel sessions.

The Chair thanked everybody involved in whatever way in M25 activities and programmes; they are giving up their time to be involved in Working Groups, Task Groups, on the Steering Group and as Trustees. He also thanked all Representatives for allowing staff to take part and encouraged them to continue to put people forward for M25 activities as it is a great development opportunity.

Membership
Members agreed to accept three institutions into membership:

Global Banking School
Guildhall Library
Imperial College London

We are very pleased to welcome our new members.

Accounts and finance
Members voted to accept the final accounts and trustees’ report for 2024-2025 and the budget for 2026-2027 showing a modest deficit, which can be absorbed by our reserves.

Subscriptions
As a recognition of the current difficult financial climate, we proposed a zero increase on member subscriptions for 2026-2027 (our membership year is August-July). The Treasurer noted that a 0% increase is feasible again this year, but this cannot be sustained in the longer term and the trustees will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Governance

People
David Archer, Chair and Dave Puplett, Secretary, were confirmed in their roles for a second two-year term. Pete Williams, Louise Ashton and Fiona Ainsworth were confirmed as Steering Group members.

Articles
The members voted to accept the proposal to review the Articles of Association during 2026-2027 to ensure they remain up to date, including consideration of our membership criteria. Dave Puplett, Secretary, invited any interested Reps who would like to work with him on this review to get in touch.

Strategy
Members voted to accept the Consortium’s new Strategy covering the period August 2026-July 2029. The Strategy sets out four priority areas: Engagement and Inclusion, Partnership and Collaboration, Resilience and Sustainability, and Talent and Innovation.