Agenda

08:50

Welcome address

09:00

Panel discussion: A new world order?

Impact of Trump administration's policies on global trade and financial markets
What is the outlook on growth and inflation?
What does the future hold for the US $?
Taking stock of the standoff between the administration and the central bank, and future interest rate policy pathway
What does all this mean for credit and equity markets and asset prices?

Panellist:
Henry Mo, Chief Economist and Head of Market Strategy, Corebridge Financial (subject to final confirmation)
Roman Halfin, US CRO & Head of Investment Risk, Enstar
Representative, State Street Investment Management

09:40

Panel discussion: Structural and strategic shifts in the re/insurance industry: The risks, repercussions and counter strategies

How has the reinsurance market changed over time? Which jurisdictions are set to be the future of offshore reinsurance?
What does this trend mean for existing risk and regulatory practices? How concerned should we be about risks arising from interconnectedness and complexity?
Continued growth of asset intensive reinsurance
Where do you see life insurance going in the US?
How has the massive transfer of liabilities offshore impacted market dynamics?
How concerned should US regulators be with the movement of liabilities into foreign jurisdictions?
Bermuda, Cayman and the rest – are these likely to continue their growth trajectory? What are the risks?
How has the asset manager-insurance model impacted how traditional insurers think of the business now?
What should insurers do to protect themselves against shifting markets

Panellists:
Mariana Gomez-Vock, SVP, Prudential Policy and International, American Council of Life Insurers
Stephen Radis, Vice President Investment Management - Head of Portfolio Management Reinsurance, Metlife
Zafar Bhatti, Global Head of Financial Risk Management, Manulife

10:20

Panel discussion: Headwinds for the industry - What does the 5-10 year global threat landscape hold in store?

Key priorities for the year ahead
Overview of the NAIC's asset adequacy testing policy
How is the NAIC looking to tackle cross border reinsurance?
NAIC RBC taskforce proposals
The ICS and aggregation method – where are we now?
States vs the Fed – is it time for the FIO to be abolished?
A meeting of minds – what is the path to consensus – how can industry/state regulators and NAIC work together to reach agreement
How do we harness the merits of the US state-based supervision model to respond to the evolution in the market in the most effective manner

Panellists:
Carl Groth, Chief Risk Officer, Legal and General Retirement America
Arya Yarpezeshkan, Global Head of Business and Strategic Risk, AIG

11:00

Coffee break

11:25

TRACK ONE
ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK TWO
ASSET RISK

CRO panel – Strategic risk priorities in a shifting landscape

Which key risks are top of mind?
Rebuilding frameworks to address interconnected, macro driven risk
Strengthening risk culture and engagement across the organisation
Prioritizing agility and foresight in risk leadership
Reputation, regulation and trust:

Responding to shifting consumer behaviour and anti-insurer sentiment

Moderator: Vinaya Sharma, Actuary and Managing Director, Quantitative Risk Management

Panellists:
Florian Richard, Chief Risk Officer, Axa XL
Julia Zhang, Chief Risk Officer, Equitable Holdings
Ophelia Engelhardt-Funke, Hannover Life Re

Panel discussion: CIOS in conversation: How to build resilient portfolios amidst an uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop

Which issues pose the greatest macroeconomic risk to your investment portfolio?
Are investment opportunities improving, staying the same, or getting worse?
Which asset classes are in favour? And are you planning to increase allocation to those? Conversely, which asset classes are coming out of favour?
How are you thinking of liquidity, duration, equity and credit risk?
Where are we in the credit cycle?
What does AI mean for the investment function?

What risk does it pose for certain asset classes and which sectors will be the winners and losers?
Opportunities for alpha generation through AI-driven insights
Future of investment decision-making under augmented intelligence

Moderator:
Bill Pauling, Director, Risk Solutions, Conning

Panellists:
Amit Agrawal, Chief Investment Officer, Axa XL
Peggy Huang, Group Chief Investment Officer, Ceres Life
Lale Topcuoglu, Managing Director, Head Investment Strategy & Public Fixed Income, Swiss Re
Wen-Fu Wu, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Fixed Income, TIAA

12:05

Presentation: Capital allocation strategies

Roles and responsibilities in the capital allocation process.
How do the various business functions (e.g. underwriting, investment, risk, planning) interact with the Board to allocate capital?
Creating a functional governance structure for capital allocation and reviewing performance.
Economic capital models: are they used optimally? What improvements need to be made to make ECMs more useful?
Regulatory changes influencing capital allocation e.g. asset charges

Sponsor presentation

12:25

Panel discussion: Navigating an era of defence foreign policy: Insurance Impacts

What deregulation, tariffs, and shifting policy mean for insurance and risk strategy
Liability exposures in a lighter-touch enforcement environment
Strategic positioning for insurers under a second Trump term
Impact of cutbacks to federal agencies

Panellist:
Guenter Kryszon, Chief Underwriting Officer, US & Bermuda, Markel

Panel discussion: What is the next chapter for private market investments?

Are private markets offering the stability that public markets no longer seem to enjoy?
Innovation in private market structures
Growth in secondaries, co-investing, and rated feeder funds
Building vs. acquiring direct origination capabilities
Tailoring structures to insurer-specific needs and constraints
How is this space set to evolve over the next 5 years?
Drivers behind appetite for more complex and nuanced exposure to private credit? Where are the risks and opportunities?
How are market participants looking to differentiate themselves in sourcing and fundraising?
How are insurers looking to add complexity into their privates portfolio?

Panellist:
Anisha Gangwani, Chief Investment Officer, Legal and General Retirement America

13:05

Sponsor presentation

13:25

Lunch

14:20

TRACK ONE
ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

TRACK TWO
ASSET RISK

Panel discussion: Building and extending an appropriate and dynamic AI risk framework

What are the main risks to the business from usage of AI?
Establishing protocols for responsible AI integration into risk functions
Clarifying ownership and accountability for AI oversight
Understanding and accommodating for uniqueness in AI technology deployments
Measuring return on AI investment and use-case success
Balancing new risks against missing the new opportunities for growth and efficiency
How can we test the efficacy of AI models?
What level of regulatory oversight is appropriate?

Panellists:
Anton Clennar, Managing Director and AI Lead EMEA, RNA Analytics
Liping Jiang, SVP, Enterprise Risk Management, Chubb (subject to final confirmation)
Paul Bianco, Chief Risk Officer, Aspen Insurance US

Panel discussion: The Real Estate market: Start of a new dawn?

Is the real estate sector entering a new growth cycle?
What does the expectation of fewer regulations mean for real estate investment opportunities?
Key considerations in the asset selection process
Emerging property types vs traditional sectors
Diversification of assets - exploring opportunities in digital infrastructure and new energy infrastructure
Persisting headwinds for the CRE market
Risks and opportunities presented by the anticipated wall of liquidity

Panellist:
Representative, Invesco

15:00

The US insurance crisis: Toward an uninsurable world?

Is crisis an accurate description and are we heading for an uninsurable world?
An affordability crisis driven by extreme weather and asset clustering
Legal regulatory and inflationary pressures
What additional challenges lie ahead?
Where does the solution lie?
Public-private models and insurer roles in mitigation and education

What reform and action is being taken by state regulators and how successful are these measures proving to be?
Insuring the better risk – educating clients in loss preventative measures

Use of parametric products and AI tools to create products to protect insureds
Next steps

Panellist:
Robert Gordon, Senior Vice President of Policy, Research and International, American Property Casualty Insurance Association

Panel discussion: Alternative assets: Balancing credit, liquidity and complexity risk

Drawing a distinction between credit risk and illiquidity risk
Where do the 2 intersect?
Defining prudent illiquidity and credit exposure
What is complexity risk? How can it be measured, managed and mitigated?
What does it mean for portfolio strategy?
Adjusting liquidity strategies to support portfolio goals

Panellists:
Bill Carton, Head of Investment Risk, Axa XL
Blake Witherington, Chief Credit Officer, Manulife
Jeff Mauro, Chief Investment Officer, Fortitude Re

15:40

Coffee break

16:00

Panel discussion: Modernising operational resiliency frameworks - ensuring smooth operations in the face of disruption

Defining resiliency risk
Revising resiliency frameworks to address interconnectedness and systemic and vendor risks
Identifying key strategic 3rd/4th party dependencies
Governance and resource strategies for critical dependencies
Promoting cross functional coordination and removing silos
How do broader resiliency frameworks incorporate or align with cyber incident frameworks

Panellist: Rachelle Flynn-Kasuba, Head of Business Risk & Resiliency, Guardian Life

Panel discussion: A deep dive in the rise of alternative risk transfer mechanisms

What is driving the trend in alternative risk transfers? What's the growth outlook and where does it stop?
What investment opportunities are unlocked from such transactions?
How to assess and address concentration and counterparty risks?
Onshore vs offshore transactions?
What is the future of risk transfer and heightened regulatory scrutiny on these mechanisms?

16:40

Panel discussion: Deep dive into emerging risk threats and their implications for insurers

Subject matter experts will provide insights into key emerging risks and discuss approaches to managing them, how they see them progressing in the future and implications for the insurance sector:

Longevity and GLP-1 drugs
Liability claims trends / what's happening with social inflation
Cyber risks and the supply chain

Panellist: Steve Guijarro, Chief Risk Officer of US and Group Head of Exposure Management, Ascot Group

Panel discussion: Implications of enhanced regulatory oversight of investment risks

How are insurers adapting to the new principles-based bond definition, particularly concerning asset-backed securities (ABS) and Issuer Credit Obligations (ICOs)?
What challenges have arisen in reclassifying investments under this framework, and how is the NAIC addressing them?
Anticipating impacts on insurers' capital requirements and investment strategies of revisions to the RBC framework?
NAIC's approach to use of agency ratings, and way forward

17:20

Closing remarks

17:30

End of conference, following by a drinks reception

Insurance Risk & Capital Americas 2025

Agenda