08:45
Welcoming remarks
08:50
Keynote address: Opening macro reality check: Markets, rates and the ‘unpriceable’ world
- The growing disconnect between macro noise and asset pricing – why has escalating global risk failed to move asset prices – and what might break that resilience?
- Are oil prices still a reliable economic indicator?
- Tail risk pricing: are markets rationally filtering noise, or dangerously under-pricing systemic risk?
- The AI CapEx boom – is the fear of an AI bubble burst realistic and justified?
- Inflation, rates and fiscal stress – are we entering a structurally different regime?
- How will fiscal and monetary policy shape the financial markets and economic growth over the coming months?
- Future direction of travel for interest rates and inflation
- Potential divergence between Europe and US in terms of direction of interest rates – what are the implications for investment strategy?
- How worrying is the fiscal position of the US and the current debt trajectory? Will the US dollar remain the world's safe-haven asset?
- What does all this mean for credit and equity markets and asset prices?
09:10
CIO panel - From macro signals to balance sheet decisions
- Which macro signals are having the biggest influence on asset allocation decisions, - and where are we in the credit cycle?
- Value in a tight spread environment: where to find true relative value and genuine opportunities?
- Diversification decisions: the role of technology/innovation assets, EMD, and currency exposure (including USD concentration)
- Risk management and resilience: implications of crowded trades, leveraged sovereign risk, duration positioning, and geopolitics.
09:50
Sponsor session
10:10
CIO keynote: Seeking out the canary in the coal mine- hidden risks for insurance portfolios
- Stability vs fragility – is market resilience real or mis-placed complacency?
- Where are risks being underestimated or ignored?
- Mispriced or unpriceable: what's quietly building up in asset prices and credit markets?
- Where might the hidden vulnerabilities lie?
- From noise to signal: the early warning indicators and triggers that would prompt a major repositioning over the next 12-24 months
10:30
Networking coffee break
10:55
Panel discussion: Strategic partnerships and outsourcing
- How insurers are using partnerships and alternative capital to access complex/illiquid assets, and the trade-offs involved
- Control, governance, and fiduciary duty: oversight of sourcing, valuation, monitoring, and conflicts – especially where asset managers are also shareholders
- Prudent person principle under pressure: How are regulators applying the prudent person principle to strategic partnerships?
- What 'good' looks like next: which models are likely to endure, how AI/data may shift transparency, and the ingredients of successful partnerships over the next five years
11:35
Sponsor session
11:55
Lunch
12:50
Panel discussion: Financing the ai infrastructure build out – unpacking the investment risks and opportunities
- Balance sheet reality check: Do AI infrastructure assets genuinely fit insurer liabilities, capital frameworks and valuation discipline — or are hidden risks building?
- Are the risks – construction risk, uncertain demand, tech becoming obsolete, energy dependency, concentration – truly being rewarded?
- Stress-testing downside, liquidity and exit assumptions in an immature and rapidly scaling market.
13:30
Sponsor session
13:50
Funded re at scale: alignment, asset strategy and regulatory scrutiny?
- Are incentives between cedants and reinsurers truly aligned?
- How are oversight, controls, and risk tolerances evolving?
- Asset strategy under pressure: sourcing high-quality, long duration assets without diluting underwriting standards or increasing complexity.
- How are deal structures changing and are transparency, valuation discipline, and cross-border supervision keeping pace?
- What happens in a downturn? In a stressed credit or liquidity environment, where would the model be tested first – and who ultimately bears the downside?
14:30
Optimising the matching adjustment portfolio: strategy and technology to gain the competitive edge
- The key updates to MA rules/expectations and how they alter the investable universe for UK insurers
- Have reforms increased private market access and which private market assets are easiest/hardest to make MA-compatible and why?
- MA eligibility and asset characteristics, what matters most in practice: cashflow predictability, credit quality, structural protections, complexity, and demonstrable risk management
- How can AI be used to manage and optimise insurance asset portfolio?
- Where are the opportunities for AI to materially enhance Matching Adjustment portfolio construction?
- What does best practice now look like? Technology, governance, modelling, and regulatory engagement in a more flexible MA regime
15:10
Networking and coffee break
15:35
Private markets at scale: Strategy, discipline and the insurance balance sheet
- Beyond yield enhancement – what is the real role of private markets now on the balance sheet?
- As allocations grow, secondaries deepen and private markets institutionalise, are we underestimating liquidity, correlations and downside risk?
- Valuations, models, and scrutiny: managing opaque pricing, rating/model risk, and rising regulatory attention.
- Credit discipline and differentiation: how insurers are strengthening underwriting, governance, monitoring, and using structures (ABF/structured credit) to create real balance sheet value rather than repackage risk
16:15
Panel discussion: Fine-tuning the operating model for the modern insurance investment function
- Oversight vs outsourcing – where capability must sit internally
- AI, data and decision making – what is real today vs hype? Where are tools changing decisions or workflows?
- Future structure of the insurance investment team: leaner models, specialist needs, and where human judgement remains essential
- Can insurers realistically run leaner teams? Where is human judgement irreplaceable?
- What differentiates top-tier investment functions now and in the future?
16:55
Closing keynote: What investment leaders must rethink now
17:15
Closing remarks