Personal Finance Society President Carla Brown has made a plea for more women in Financial Planning in her keynote address to the PFS 2025 National Conference taking place in London today.

In her opening speech to nearly 1,800 members, she said it was disappointing that only 18% of financial advisers were women and she called on members to do more to encourage women to join the Financial Planning profession.

She said PFS members could help to change the balance by promoting careers for women in Financial Planning and she urged women advisers themselves to become role models.

She said: "We can only inspire others if they can see themselves in the profession."

The PFS Conference is the biggest annual gathering of Financial Planners in the UK and is under way today at London's Excel centre in Docklands.

Ms Brown said despite the challenges of recent times, she was overwhelmingly positive about the future of the profession and the PFS.

She said she was more positive about the PFS than she had been for many years, with many new initiatives under way and a more collaborative spirit. She said she hoped the organisation was putting recent "challenges" behind it.

The PFS has been hit in recent years by ongoing wrangles from 'rebel' members about the use of PFS reserves. A number of board members quit last year although resignations have slowed in recent times.

Despite the challenges, Ms Brown said: "There is a real sense of optimism among the board."

She said the £1m Pathways to Profession new talent campaign had been widely supported by members and was already "opening the doors" for new talent to the profession.

She added that spreading the word about the benefits of financial advice was a key aim for the second year of her presidency.

She said: "We all know the profound impact that good advice can have." 

More than 2,000 people have signed up to attend the one day event which will see over 25 sessions from leading industry speakers. Speakers include leading Financial Planners and and industry experts as well as guest appearances by the England Lionesses, footballing stars Lucy Bronze and Beth Mead.

The event takes place at the new ICC Maritime Suite at Excel London. 

Top speakers include customer service expert Geoff Ramm, who will deliver a keynote speech, and Kate Tuckley, head of the consumer investments supervision department at the FCA along with several industry leaders including Paradigm Norton CEO Philippa Hann.

This year’s theme is ‘Mind the Gap’ and conference sessions will focus on bridging key industry gaps such as the advice gap, innovation gap, generations gap and talent gap. The event will look in particular at the impact of the advice guidance boundary review set to shake up the advice sector.

• Financial Planning Today will be bringing coverage of the event during the day. Check the website later for updates.