Insurance Risk & Capital Americas 2021 (Virtual)

On-demand

DAY ONE, 22nd September (EDT)

 

Time

TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

11:00 Welcome and introduction to the day  
11:10

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: UPDATE FROM THE NAIC: PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES ON THE AGENDA FOR THE YEAR AHEAD 

  • How is the NAIC continuing to progress on its diversity in insurance initiatives?
  • Where is the NAIC on its climate agenda? Detailing specific areas of work for 2021 and forward
  • Modelling and technology and the roadmap for this in the US?

Speaker: 

Director Dean L. Cameron, Director of the Idaho Department of Insurance (DOI) and the President-Elect of the NAIC 

11:40

CRO PANEL: THE CRO RESPONSE TO A CHANGING RISK LANDSCAPE

  • With a unique combination of pressures on the CRO (Climate change, digital transformation, pandemic, market risk factors etc.) what is the CRO perspective on how the risk landscape has changed and how best to manage this challenging environment?
    • How has the risk managers required skill set changed with it?
    • How do risk tools need to mature and evolve to assist the CRO in navigating this new risk landscape?
  • What are the key 'grey swan' risks on the risk mangers' 'worry list'?
  • A rearview look at Covid – How have ERM practices changed?
  • How does the CRO effectively anticipate and mitigate for big events
    • Incorporating systemic impacts
    • Macro vs. micro risk focus – what is the right balance?
  • Have we seen the full impact of the pandemic? What is the long term risk implications of variances?
  • What does our experience with Covid tell us about how we need to improve our emerging risk process?
  • Managing regulation and policy change – how do you operate as an organization in this environment of fluid change?

Moderator:
Chris Cundy, Managing Editor, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Pooja Rahman, SVP & Chief Risk Officer, Protective Life Corporation
Jean-Roch Sibille, Chief Risk Officer, Allianz Life
John Langione, North American Chief Risk Officer, QBE
Edward Mishambi, SVP and Chief Risk Officer- Europe, RenaissanceRe

 

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE INDUSTRY AND REGULATORS IN CONVERSATION: WHAT IS THE RIGHT REGULATORY RISK FRAMEWORK AROUND CLIMATE AND ESG

  • A comparison of approaches - how and to what extent are the different regulators engaging in insurers' approaches to sustainability? Where are the different supervisors focusing their attention?
  • What regulatory deliverables will insurers be expected to provide in the short and medium term regarding assessment, management and reporting of climate risk?
  • What challenges will this pose for insurers?
    • Reconciling regulatory expectations with ALM objectives
    • How achievable, meaningful and useful are the current deliverables, timelines and expectations from regulators and other stakeholders?
  • With multiple policy initiatives and recommendations, how do we develop coherence and industry standardization in approaches and measurement?
  • Where are efforts best focused and how do we ensure actions now will have constructive and meaningful impact in the future?
  • Disclosures and consistency of disclosures – in a world where there is no standard on what you need to disclose, how do you balance transparency with remaining competitive vs. peers?
  • How can insurers engage and influence regulation?

Moderator:
Dave Snyder, Vice President, American Property Casualty Insurance Association (subject to final confirmation)

Panellists: 
Brandon Blant, Deputy Group CRO and CRO North America, Intact Financial Corporation
Maxine Verne
, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, SCOR
Robert Zehr, Corporate Risk Officer, Erie Insurance Group
Yue (Nina) Chen, Ph.D. Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives, New York State Department of Financial Services

PANEL DISCUSSION: POST PANDEMIC INVESTMENT RISK AND STRATEGIES

  • Market risk and asset allocation trends in 2021 and beyond
  • How has the pandemic shifted the landscape in terms of insurance investment/ asset preferences and risk?
  • How are you positioned for a tapering of the Fed's market support programmes??
  • Investment Lessons learned from the pandemic
  • How do we react to sudden and dramatic changes in the market? Where were the opportunities during the crisis and how do you ensure you are agile enough to capitalize on them?
  • What scenarios are you testing, post pandemic?

Moderator:
Marc Mercurio, Macquarie Asset Management

Panellists:
Mike Huff, Senior Director, Portfolio Management & Asset Allocation, TIAA
Clark Wagner, Chief Investment Officer, Foresters Financial
Nick Martowski, Chief Investment Officer, MAGMUTUAL Insurance Company

12:25

TRACING THE SHIFT IN BUSINESS PRACTICES POST –PANDEMIC

  • What operational risk challenges have arisen through the new work environment and what measures have you taken to alleviate them?
  • Cultivating and maintaining innovation, collaboration and productivity in a remote environment
  • How has opinion on what fosters a good risk culture changed with the switch to remote working? What does good look like now and how do you successfully evolve the culture to get there?
  • The technology shift and move to digital
  • Preserving reputation in the light of business interruption

Moderator:
Brandon McCreary, CMA AVP, Global Risk Management, Combined Insurance

Panellists: 
Adam Seager, Chief Risk Officer- Americas, ARGO INSURANCE GROUP
Ophelia Engelhardt-Funke, Chief Risk Officer, Hannover-Re
Timothy H. Carmon, CPA, CGMA, Formerly Head of Enterprise Risk and Controls Assessment, Mass Mutual
Paul Wigham, Senior Vice President, Risk and Controls, Oscar Health

PANEL DISCUSSION: BUILDING AND STRENGTHENING CLIMATE RESILIENCE

  • What part can insurers play in building resilience? Action at industry level and company level
  • How can insurance support resilience – as underwriters, as investors, as risk manager?
  • Risk mitigation and avoidance – Helping clients mitigate the risks around floods and wildfires
    • What does this mean in practice?
    • What new products can insurers offer to this end?
  • How are companies evaluating and managing the impacts of climate change within the organisation?
  • What do firms view as the most predominant climate change risks?
  • What is being done to assess these risks?
  • How are companies adjusting risk tolerances to incorporate the ‘new normal’ of these impacts?

Moderator:
Alice Hill, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment, Council on Foreign Relations

Pannelists:
Mike Peterson, Deputy Commissioner on Climate and Sustainability, California Department of Insurance 
Philippe Brahin,
Head Americas Public Sector Solutions, Swiss Re
Raghuveer Vinukollu,
Senior Vice President, Nat Cat Solutions, MunichRe

PANEL DISCUSSION: INFLATION AND THE RATE ENVIRONMENT – WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

  • What is the industry view on the direction of rates in the near, medium and long term?
  • As the ‘Lower for longer’ trend becomes a more permanent scenario - What challenges is this creating for insurer investors?
    • ALM implications
    • How is this influencing risk-taking?
  • What is the industry view on potential inflation risk?
  • What could the potential impact be on the different sectors?
  • Are firms anticipating inflation risk and if so what steps are they taking to protect the portfolio
  • What kind of assets do you hold to hedge inflation?
  • Is it a serious concern for long-term investors?

Moderator:
Alberto Matellan, Chief Economist, Mapfre

Panellists:
Cameron Black, Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer, Blue Cross Shield of Arizona
Xiaowei Han, Vice President, Head of ALM, TIAA
Kevin Redgate, Senior Vice President and US Chief Investment Officer, MetLife

13:10

PANEL DISCUSSION: CYBER – HOW IS THE NATURE OF THE CYBER THREAT CHANGING AND HOW SHOULD INSURERS RESPOND TO THE SPIKE IN RANSOMWARE ATTACKS?

  • As more high profile cyber events hit the headlines, has this impacted insurers' risk appetite towards cyber?
  • How are insurers reassessing cyber underwriting practices in light of increased ransomware attacks?
  • What is the right and responsible stance for insurers to take against extortion claims?
  • Are ransomware payments against public policy? Are insurance payouts encouraging and fuelling criminality?
  • What is the right approach to protecting clients and improving resilience in clients?
  • Reassessing cyber risk accumulation management

Moderator:
Catherine Rudow, VP - Cyber Insurance, Nationwide

Panellists:
Brian Dusek, Head of Americas Cyber, Mosaic Insurance
Chuck Jainchill, Cyber Product Development Leader, AIG
Meghan Hannes, Cyber & Tech E&O Product Head, Hiscox
Rachel Anne Carter, Director, Cyber, Geneva Association

PANEL DISCUSSION: NAVIGATING THE CHALLENGES SURROUNDING ESG DATA AND INDICES TO DERIVE MEANINGFUL INSIGHTS

  • How are firms using ESG data to drive investment strategy?
  • What benchmarks are firms looking for?
  • What tools and databases are firms using to assist with analysis?
  • Look-through analysis
  • Current challenges with ESG data
  • How is the industry coping with the lack of standardization?
  • What is the route to standardized ESG indices and reporting standards?

Moderator:
Lucy Auden, Senior Programme Manager, Investment Leaders Group at University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

Panellist:
Camille Mauguy, Group Head of Sustainability, SCOR
Mindy Lubber, CEO and President, Ceres
Sean Collins, CFA, Investment Vice President, Global Investment Strategy, Prudential Financial

CIO FIRESIDE CHAT: TRENDS IN THE ILLIQUIDS SPACE

  • How are firms managing the search for yield in the current environment?
  • What new structures are firms looking to in order to remain capital efficient?
  • Opportunities in structured credit
    • Underlying risks
  • How has the portfolio make-up changed in recent years?
  • Managing the trade-off between frequency and severity of loss
  • What impact is M&A activity having on the industry and on the illiquids space in particular?
  • How does a PE-owned insurer's view on asset allocation differ to that of a traditionally owned insurer?
    • How is this influencing the risk-taking behavior of traditional insurers?

Interviewer:
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk

Speakers:
Anup Agarwal, Chief Investment Officer, Global Atlantic Financial Group 

 

13:35

 

 

FIRESIDE CHAT: HOSTED BY MACQUARIE ASSET MANAGEMENT

Interviewer: Marc Mercurio, Senior Insurance Manager, Macquarie Asset Management 

Speaker:
David Agnew, Managing Director, Macquarie Asset Management

Time  TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

 
 TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

13:55 REVIEWING STRESS AND SCENARIO TESTING PRACTICES FOR HIGH RISK, LOW FREQUENCY EMERGING RISK EVENTS.
  • How does the emerging risk process need to change to better identify and assess the impacts of grey swan risks?
  • How do scenarios need to be adapted/amplified to be more multi- dimensional and to adequately address the complexity and correlation of the nature we experienced with the pandemic?
  • Practically how useful/impactful are these scenarios going to be?
  • How do we embed the learnings from these stress and scenario tests into how business strategy is shaped over the long term?

Moderator:
Sarfraz Thind, US Editor, InsuranceERM, Insurance Asset Risk


Panellists:
Dan Finn, Head of Risk Solutions, Conning
Julia Chu, Chief Risk Officer, Markel Corporation
Adam Lei, Vice President, Head of Enterprise Risk Management, National Western Life
Xiaowei Han, Vice President, Head of ALM, TIAA

PANEL DISCUSSION: WEATHER SEVERITY CHANGES AND MANAGING AGGREGATE LOSSES
  • Nat cat loss trends and exposure accumulation trends
  • Secondary peril events.
  • Influencing factors – socio-economic causes vs. climate causes
  • How do we expect the pattern of severe weather related events and subsequent losses to play out and manifest over the short and medium term?
  • What are the threats to the insurability of weather-related risks and how do we ensure insurability is sustained in the future?
  • As an industry how do we focus on the aggregate part of the curve rather than the tail?
  • How do cat models need to be adapted to reflect the dynamic nature of climate risk and socio-economic factors
  • What role should the regulators play?

Moderator:
Chris Cundy, Managing Editor, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Andrew MacFarlane, Head of Climate, Axa XL
Maryam Haji, VIce President, Head of Cat Research, Trans Re
Thomas Speakes, VP, Program Manager, North America, QBE

PANEL DISCUSSION: CREDIT MARKETS OUTLOOK
  • How has the pandemic reshaped what is attractive in terms of the credit landscape across different sectors?
  • Downgrades and defaults off the back of the pandemic – what is the outlook for this and what does this mean for insurers portfolios?
    • How are the regulators responding to this risk?
  • Public vs private
  • Corporate real estate vs. corporate bonds
  • Intermediate vs. longer term
  • Did we experience the end of the credit cycle or is it still lurking on the horizon? What are the implications of rapid government intervention?
  • Asked about credit market outlook and he said level of spreads is a key topic there. Do people feel that they are being compensated for the risk right now?
  • Could be an interesting dialogue around the industry sector.Energy/leisure/travel - were in a bad place last year, starting to come back but post pandemic – does this change people's perspectives on those industries?
  • Credit spread duration

Moderator:
Erik Vynckier, Board Member, Foresters Friendly Society


Panellists:
Amit Agrawal, Head of Fixed Income, Axa XL
Federico Rodriguez, Global Head of Fixed Income, Group Investments, QBE
Nakul Nayyar, Investment Risk Management, Guardian Life
Sanjana Raturi, Head of Credit Risk, New York Life Insurance

14:40 Closing remarks
14:50 End of day one

DAY TWO, 23rd September, (EDT)

Time

TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

11:00 Welcome and introduction to the day  
Time

TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

11:10

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: WHAT DOES ESG MEAN TO YOU AS A COMPANY AND HOW, AS A COMPANY, ARE YOU PUTTING THE BUILDING BLOCKS IN PLACE TO EMBRACE THE ESG MOVEMENT

  • What is and should the role of insurers be in promoting sustainability?
  • Where should the responsibility begin and end?
  • On a practical level, what are you doing to encourage sustainability and good social governance?
  • What goals are practical and achievable right now and in the short – medium term?
  • When designing and implementing an ESG policy – what does good look like?
    • What are the building blocks?
    • What budget and resources does it require?
    • How are you using it in your day to day?
  • How is ESG implemented and infiltrated within the risk culture of the organization so that employees own social and environmental decisions?
  • Challenges for global companies – how do you have an overarching ESG framework when you are dealing with multiple jurisdictions?
  • Effective engagement with clients
  • What approach are you taking to evaluating and underwriting ESG risks (ratings, assessments etc.)
  • How do you measure ESG risk?

Speaker:
Randy Brown, Chief Investment Officer, Sun Life
  

Time

TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

11:40 PANEL DISCUSSION: WHAT ARE THE APPROPRIATE, USEFUL AND MEANINGFUL WAYS TO MEASURE AND ASSESS THE FINANCIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE RISK?
  • Modeling impacts of climate change at an actionable level - what time horizons is it appropriate and sensible for insurers to model?
    • From a qualitative approach?
    • From a quantitative approach?
    • How are models evolving to adapt to longer-term climate impacts?
  • How do we move from a qualitative assessment to a quantitative assessment approach?
  • What data and tools do we need?
  • How do you begin to build up the necessary data?
  • What providers and external help can we look to for help on that journey?
  • Bridging the gap between nat cat modeling and climate modeling – challenges with incorporating climate change considerations into nat cat modeling.
    • How do we gain a better understanding of the extent to which climate risk is influencing nat cat events and frequency and severity? What does this mean for our current way of monitoring weather events and how do we need to adapt modeling approaches accordingly?
  • Climate related stress testing and scenario analysis
    • Stress testing and scenario analysis – how are the 2 distinct?
    • Choosing and designing scenarios
    • Creating narrative around the scenarios and making assumptions under those scenarios

Using results from the stress tests and scenario analysis exercise to inform and drive business strategy.

Moderator:
Ronan McCaughey, Deputy Editor and Commercial Editor of InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Gareth Sutcliffe, Senior Director, Insurance Investment Solutions Group, Willis Towers Watson
Chris Fowle, Director of the Americas, Principles for Responsible Investment
Guenter Kryszon, Global Executive Underwriting Officer, Property, Markel Corporation
Tim Antonelli, CFA, FRM, SCR, Insurance Multi-Asset Strategist, Wellington Management

PANEL DISCUSSION: IMPLEMENTING A GREEN INVESTMENT POLICY – PRACTICAL STEPS TOWARDS APPLYING SUSTAINABLE CRITERIA TO THE INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO

  • Setting out a roadmap to designing and implementing a green investment policy
  • What does good look like?
  • Engagement vs. Divestment –knowing when to engage and when to divest.
  • Setting engagement key performance indicators
  • Analysis of managers and investments – identifying greenwashing
  • Risks of stranded assets – future proofing the investment portfolio.
  • How far down the supply chain should you analyse and apply ESG criteria?
  • Framework to measure impact
  • What does all this practically mean for portfolio construction? And reporting?
  • Using the energy transition to be a better asset investor
  • Differentiating from the competition
  • Accessing the right financial tools to support the low-carbon transition

Moderator:
Sean Kevelighan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Information Institute

Panellists:
Adam Wise, Senior Managing Director – Natural Resources, Manulife
John C.S. Anderson, Global Head Corporate Finance and Infrastructure, Manulife
Lisa M. Longino, CFA Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Strategy Group ,Chief Investment Office, Prudential
Michèle Lacroix, Head of Group Investment Risk and Sustainability, Scor

Time

TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

12:25

PANEL DISCUSSION: HOW CAN INSURERS BETTER TACKLE THE DIVERSITY ISSUE?

  • Opportunities
  • What needs to happen at both industry and company level to achieve diversity?
  • The role of the regulator
  • The role of the Board
  • Diversity and inclusion policies - What does good look like?
  • What does it mean for a company to be anti-racist, do they need to be?
  • What are the building blocks to creating and instilling a culture of diversity and inclusion?
  • Aligning diversity and inclusion priorities with corporate strategy
  • Measurement and performance indicator frameworks around D&I.
  • How should insurers address potentially discriminatory pricing models?
  • How can insurers tailor your investments to promote diversity?

Moderator:
Cintia Cheong, Senior Staff Writer, InsuranceERM and Insurance Asset Risk

Panelists:
Kennedy Ihezie, Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, AIG
Ken McCullum , Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, Principal Financial Group
Brian Coleman, Vice President, Global Risk Management, Combined Insurance 

Time

TRACK 1: 

ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK 2:

ESG

TRACK 3:

INSURANCE ASSET RISK

13:10

PANEL DISCUSSION: GLOBAL CAPITAL STANDARDS

  • US engagement on the Global Insurance Capital Standard (ICS)
  • The US stance on the global insurance rule
  • Is a one-size fits all approach right?
  • Looking at the aggregation method--how will it work for the US?
  • US cooperation with international standard setters
  • Post-pandemic, how to promote cooperation among global regulators?

Moderator:
Sarfraz Thind, US Editor, InsuranceERM and Insurance Asset Risk

Panellist:
Halina von dem Hagen, Global Treasurer and Head of Capital Management, Manulife
Mariana Gomez-Vock
, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, ACLI
Marty Hansen,
Senior Managing Director, Head of Regulatory Policy, Planning and Strategy, AIG

PANEL DISCUSSION: INVESTING FOR SOCIAL GOOD

  • Where is the impact opportunity for the 'S" of ESG?
    • Social bond offerings
  • Impact investing to advance diversity and inclusion and racial equality
    • Does anyone have a mandate to do that and if so what does it look like?
    • What percentage of your social investment allocation is apportioned to racial inclusion?
  • What gets measured gets done – what impact measurement framework do you have in place to measure the social benefits of investments?
  • How can the industry bond together to make a bigger impact?

Moderator:
Sarfraz Thind, US Editor, Insurance ERM and Insurance Asset Risk

Panellists:
Jeff Brenner, President and CEO, Impact Community Capital
Maurice Perkins, SVP & Global Head, Government and Policy Affairs at Aegon / Transamerica 
Danielle Brassel, Sustainable Investment Analyst, Zurich
José Luis Jiménez Guajardo-Fajardo, Group Chief Investment Officer, Mapfre

13:55

PANEL DISCUSSION: INNOVATION AROUND ML AND AI -HOW CAN ADVANCEMENTS IN DATA DRIVEN CAPABILITIES AND ANALYTICS BE SUCCESSFULLY AND MEANINGFULLY APPLIED TO RISK AND COMPLIANCE?

  • What different approaches are firms taking to use AI and ML for financial and non-financial risk quantification?
  • Where are firms using it./seeing it add value?
  • How can the risk manager use this advanced capability for quantifying risk exposure to further add value in his role as strategic partner?
  • Accessing and utilizing unstructured data
  • How do we generate insights from existing data and use it in a meaningful way
  • Determining what additional data you need.

Moderator:
Roger Chen, Head of Enterprise Risk Analytics and Reporting, New York Life Insurance Company 

Panellists:
Adam Lei, Vice President, Head of Enterprise Risk Management, National Western Life
Lori Bailey, Chief Insurance Officer, Corvus Insurance
Robert Garzotto, Head of Modelling and Analytics, Munich Re Specialty Insurance

 

PANEL DISCUSSION: MEETING NET ZERO COMMITMENTS IN THE INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO – HOW DOES IT WORK IN PRACTICE?

  • What does Net Zero actually mean in practical terms? What does a carbon neutral investment portfolio look like?
  • What is the roadmap to meeting this commitment?
  • Measuring carbon within the portfolio – what metrics are you using? What do you measure?
  • How are you tracking progress on aligning your portfolio with the net zero targets?
  • What is a realistic timeline to work to?
  • What is the reputational risk of not declaring a net zero objective?
  • What does this mean for your ability to meet investment objectives and obligations?

Moderator:
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk

Panellists:
Jesica Andrews, Investment Lead & Senior Project Manager, U.N.-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
Todd Hedtke, Chief Investment Officer, Allianz Life
Sonja Gibbs, Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance, Global Policy Initiatives, Institute of International Finance

Stacey Agretelis, Global Head of ESG, General Account, John Hancock 

14:40 Closing remarks  
14:50 End of day two

 

 

Agenda