By John Hilton
March 3, 2020
Trade
associations are preparing for business as usual as the spring conference
season approaches for financial services.
Fears
of coronavirus becoming a global pandemic is causing the cancellation of many
conferences as companies seek to avoid concentrating large numbers of people in
confined spaces.
Google,
Microsoft and Facebook are just some companies who have cancelled major events slated for
the coming weeks.
Folks
in the financial services community are taking a wait-and-see approach.
iPipeline's Connections 2020 conference March 15-17 in Las Vegas is still on,
according to Lisa Shea, iPipeline’s senior event and marketing manager.
Likewise,
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners will hold its spring
meeting as planned March 21-24 in Phoenix.
"We
believe the immediate risk of outbreak in the United States remains low and we
plan to move forward with the meeting," said Laura Kane, NAIC
communications director. "However, we are aware the situation could change
over the next few weeks. We are updating the information on our website and
will notify those who are registered should we decide to make significant
changes or cancel the meeting."
The
NAIC set up a Coronavirus Resource Center Monday
with links to the latest news, risks and impact on insurance and business
operations. The association has taken an active role in past pandemics, noted
NAIC CEO Michael Consedine, and even formed a subgroup of the Disaster
Reporting (E) Working Group on pandemics in the early 2000s.
LIMRA
LIMRA's
next big event is a double conference in Salt Lake City April 20-24. The week
starts with the Life Insurance Conference, and rolls right into the Retirement
Industry Conference, a pairing the association has scheduled for years.
As it
stands, all LIMRA and LOMA events are planned as scheduled, said Catherine
Theroux, assistant vice president and director of public relations.
"We
are monitoring the Coronavirus situation and working with our vendors to ensure
all precautions are being made to safeguard the health of our attendees,
speakers and employees," she said via email.
NAIFA
The
National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors has no imminent
conferences, but will host its annual Congressional Conference in late May in
Washington, D.C., and Performance + Purpose annual conference in Boston in
early October.
Like
other trade associations, NAIFA is closely monitoring the coronavirus
situation, said CEO Kevin Mayeux.
"NAIFA’s
top concern is for the health of our members, employees, and the American
public, so if conditions dictate as we get closer to the events, we will follow
the guidance of public health officials and take whatever actions are
necessary," he said.
InsuranceNewsNet
Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20
years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com.
Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.
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