The Annual M&A Breakfast: Looking Back at 2025 — Setting the Pace for 2026
London, WC2A 3LJ
As firms prepare for 2026, this invitation-only PIMFA M&A Breakfast — headline sponsored by SEI and supported by contributing sponsors Square 4 , Farrer & Co and Grant Thorton— brings together senior executives from both acquiring and selling firms to reflect on lessons from the past year and explore the emerging deal drivers, risks, and opportunities, with the FCA’s Laura Dawes joining us to unpack the regulator’s Consolidation Review findings, shaping the next wave of consolidation.
Over breakfast at Farrer & Co, we’ll:
- Engage with the FCA on their Consolidation Review findings.
- Review 2025 — what really drove deal flow, valuations, and integration outcomes.
- Assess the outlook for 2026 — pipeline health, financing conditions, diligence hot-spots, culture and people risks, and the FCA’s supervisory focus areas.
- Consider what acquirers will pay for — and what they will walk away from — in the year ahead
Please note: this is an invitation-only event. PIMFA reserves the right to politely decline registrations from individuals who do not meet the intended seniority or role criteria for this event.
21/01/2026
Arrival, breakfast & networking
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Speakers
Liz joined PIMFA (then known as the Wealth Management Association) as Chief Executive in 2014.
She has 30 years financial services experience, 20 of which as a Chief Executive. She successfully transformed and advised several businesses through redefining strategy, re-branding, change management and inspirational leadership, creating profitable businesses.
She has substantive experience of people and corporate culture risk, regulatory knowhow across the industry – banking, insurance and wealth management and providing good practice guidelines for the industry to adopt.
She is an accredited coach and industry leader encouraging collaborative participation of diverse groups of industry experts to address sector challenges and to leverage industry resources for collective benefit.
Liz holds a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck.
Simon Harrington
Simon joined PIMFA in November 2017 as a Senior Policy Adviser with a focus on public policy and long term savings. He has previously worked at the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and the Treasury in a variety of roles working on a number of issues including automatic enrolment, pension freedoms and the UK’s response to the financial crisis.
Simon has a strong interest in long term savings issues with a particular focus on overcoming behavioural barriers and the support structures that can be put in place in order to help and encourage a thriving savings culture in the UK.