Insurance Risk & Capital Americas 2024

CRO PANEL: OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS TO GROWTH AHEAD FOR THE INSURANCE SECTOR – POSITIONING FOR SUCCESS

Faced with a seemingly calmer macro-economic regime, but with many unknown risks on the horizons, along with shifting market dynamics, where are the curve balls the industry needs to watch for?

• Which factors will shape and determine the insurance value chain over the coming months and years?
• Opportunities and risks arising from digitalisation/AI
• Growth of systemic risks
• How do you focus on performing as a business whilst simultaneously risk managing an environment of increasing uncertainty and instability and where the ability for systemic and systematic risk is amplified?
• How are firms looking to strengthen liquidity and liquidity preparedness in case of adverse shocks?
• Availability of talent
• Climate risk as a growing concern – is it time to push climate risk up the list of priorities?
• Associated reputational risks
• Risks of ESG commitments
• Implications of US election on ESG policies. How are companies dealing and preparing to deal with contradicting trends/legislation/policies across states and countries?
• Preparing for upcoming financial reporting requirements

Moderator:
Tony Dardis, Principal and Consulting Actuary, Milliman

Panellist:
Meyrick Douglas, Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer, Prudential Financial
Prateek Chhabra, Chief Insurance Risk Officer, The Hartford
Sarah Williams, Chief Risk Officer, Guardian Life
Brian Schneider, Chief Risk Officer, CNO Financial

CIOs IN CONVERSATION: INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO NAVIGATE THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF A COMPLEX INVESTMENT LANDSCAPE

• Which risks do you see as having the biggest influence on your asset allocation strategy and how are you positioned to address them?

• How has the prevailing macroeconomic environment impacted the attractiveness of different asset classes?
• How can investors prepare for a higher-for-longer interest rate environment? How does this work when rates fall?
• To what extent do private assets continue to be relevant? How are private markets faring against public fixed income? Are there still opportunities there?
• How do you consider climate risk as part of your investment policies if at all?
• How are insurers considering the application of AI in designing and managing portfolios?
• Use of external managers to complement the portfolio – trends/what asset classes does it make sense to reach out to external managers and what are some of the primary factors you consider when rating managers?
• What TAA do you play to capture opportunities on the margin?
• Innovation in new asset classes/origination programme

Moderator:
Pete Miller, Head of Global Insurance Solutions, Invesco

Panellists:
Amit Agrawal, Chief Investment Officer, Axa XL
Peggy Huang, Chief Investment Officer, SiriusPoint
Wen-Fu Wu, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Head of Fixed Income, TIAA

PRESENTATION: SIDECARS: BRINGING TOGETHER INSURERS, ASSET MANAGERS & CAPITAL PROVIDERS

• What are life & annuity sidecars reinsurance vehicles
• Why is it relevant, and a hot topic, for non-insurance entities such as asset managers
• How should asset managers consider investing in a sidecar
• What insurers look for in a sidecar 'partner'

Speaker:
Prannoy Chaudhury, Principal & Consulting Actuary, Milliman

PRESENTATION: A DEEP DIVE INTO SPECIALTY FINANCE

Speaker:
P. J. Collins, Managing Director, AB CarVal

PANEL DISCUSSION: OPERATIONALISING AI. AI IS SET TO COMPLETELY CHANGE THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS - HOW ARE INSURANCE FIRMS STARTING TO LEVERAGE AI AND WHAT ARE THE RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS?

• Anticipating the transition to AI – do we have a good concept of the potential of AI and what are the skills and frameworks required to harness it to its full potential?
• Practical use case examples – where have insurers started incorporating AI and where are they seeing most traction? Service? Operational processes? Underwriting?
• How have companies approached this process?
• What challenges have they encountered along the way?
• How have they gone about setting up clear governance and security measures?
• How are companies looking to scale it?
• How have they resourced for this extra skill set required?
• Lessons learned
• What changes need to be made to model risk management in light of AI and do companies have the skill set to do this?
• Adoption of AI exposes insurers to an additional layer of 3rd party risk – how are firms assessing, monitoring and managing this?
• Evolving regulatory landscape for AI – what has the response been to NAIC model bulletin guidance and The Colorado Division of Insurance's AI regulations.
• Practical implementation implications - what do the requirements mean for insurers and how are they implementing the guidance in practice?

Moderator:
Brian Bayerle, Chief Life Actuary, American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)

Panellists:
Kate Schaeffer, Head of Investment Management Strategy and Governance, MassMutual
Padma Elmgart, Chief Technology Officer, Global Atlantic Financial Group 
Paul Wigham, Enterprise Risk and Business Process Executive, Hippo

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE VIEW ON PRIVATE MARKETS: GROWING TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES PRESENT IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT SPACE FOR INSURERS

• Reassessing private market asset allocation in the current macro-economic and market environment
• With an increased focus on liquidity, has there been a shift in people's perceptions with regard to balance between liquidity and illiquidity?
• What are the real USPs of private assets and are you sufficiently rewarded for the risk?
• Where are the hidden risks in private markets and how well prepared are insurers to manage those risk?
• How has private credit performed in previous market cycles and what might we expect from the asset class in a potential recessionary environment?
• How have private assets performed as a hedge against inflation?
• What role do we want private assets to play in our portfolio going forward?
• Where are the current opportunities in private markets and what are the ways to access?
• What investment opportunities and risks do we see in the Clean Energy and Digital infrastructure sectors over the next few years?
• Why are these assets attractive to Insurance firms?
• What opportunity does this present to PRT players?
• What are typical portfolio construction strategies at present for private credit portfolios
• What innovation are we seeing around private assets?
• Is there enough supply in private markets to carry the growth in the BPA markets?

Moderator:
Nakul Nayyar, Head of Financial and Model Risk, Guardian Life

Panellists:
Joe Orofino, Deputy Chief Investment Officer - Insurance | Nassau Financial Group
Mehdi Khalili, Investment Strategist, Legal and General Retirement America
Laura Parrott, Head of Private Fixed Income, Nuveen
Emeka Onukwugha, CFA, Managing Director and Head, Private Placements, Wellington Management

PRESENTATION: Practical Portfolio Optimization Examples for Insurance Companies 

QRM will walk through a series of practical optimization examples:

• How Strategic Asset Allocations vary by capital levels/constraints
• Understand the optimization decision making process to maximize distributable earnings
• Leverage optimization across the balance sheet and multiple economic scenarios to create value in the Corporate Plan

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

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW

Nick Liolis, Chief Investment Officer, Guardian Life
Interviewed by Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk

PANEL DISCUSSION: A BURGEONING PRT MARKET. HOW CAN INSURERS BEST POSITION THEMSELVES TO CAPITALISE ON THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT THIS RAPID GROWTH AREA PRESENTS?

• How is the Bulk purchase annuity market set to evolve throughout 2025 and beyond?
• How sustainable is the rate of growth we are currently experiencing and what are the drivers and determining factors that will shape its future path?
• The role of reinsurance in supporting BPA growth and insurer's ability to support from a pension de-risking perspective
• Dynamics of the market development
• As the market scales what challenges and opportunities are emerging?
• As new entrants enter the market, what will be the implications of this increased competition and how do the dynamics change?
• How will the industry support its growth? Is Capital available? Are there enough investments?
• Emerging trends:
• Split transactions
• Plan terminations
• What assets are insurers using to back the liabilities and how are insurers meeting the challenge of sourcing assets in a crowded space?
• Innovation – how are insurers innovating in order to meet challenges and to differentiate their offering in a crowded space?

Moderator:
Paul Walsh, Senior Staff Writer, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Alex Gagnon, Interim Head of Distribution, Legal & General Retirement America
Elizabeth Walsh, Head of US Pensions, MetLife
Julia Senchak, Head of Pension Risk Transfer, Prudential Retirement Strategies
Mellissa Lim, VP, US Pensions Business Development, Reinsurance Group America

THE EVOLVING INSURANCE INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE. HOW IS THE UNABATING TREND FOR PE-INSURANCE TRANSFORMING THE INDUSTRY AND SHAPING THE FUTURE OF INSURANCE

•  What is driving PE-insurance and what is the outlook of that business model?
• Market demands -what impact is this having in terms of competition? Can we expect an uptick in market consolidation?
• How are PE-insurers helping to broaden and diversify the US insurance market?
• The PE-Insurer business model -
• How do traditional and PE-owned firms differ?
• Asset strategies and asset sourcing channels
• What is the risk profile of investment portfolio of PE backed vs non-PE backed insurers?
• What can traditional insurers learn from the PE-insurer model. How are traditional insurers re-evaluating and adapting their business model in response?
• What/where are the opportunities?
• How significant is the regulatory gap? Are fears of an increase in systemic risk across the financial system justified and valid?
• How do regulatory opinions compare and contrast when it comes to considering their approach to dealing with the PE- (re)insurance partnership.
• Stretching regulatory rules
• Conflict of interests
• Regulatory arbitrage
• What can we expect in terms of regulatory scrutiny and tightening of regulations – what might this mean for investment plans, disclosure, products available
• What's next for private capital investment in the insurance sector

Moderator:
Russell Gao, SVP, Head of Investment Strategy and ALM, Fortitude Re

Panellists:
Aaron Sarfatti, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Institutional Business and Inforce, Equitable
Dean Stamp, Head of Capital Strategy and Initiatives, Manulife
John Golden, EVP and Global Head of Insurance Regulation, Athene
Stephen Radis, Vice President Investment Management - Head of Portfolio Management Reinsurance, Metlife

EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT 3RD PARTY RISK MANAGEMENT – TIGHTENING UP PROCESSES AND CONTROLS TO KEEP PACE WITH AI AND CYBER DEVELOPMENTS

• How is the escalation of AI changing the nature, dynamics and focus of 3rd (and 4th) party risk management?
• Do you know where AI is in use within the insurance value chain and what additional processes/controls have you put in place to account for this?
• How are you approaching AI risk considerations in context of 3rd party risk management?
• How can risk teams best play an effective role in 3rd party risk management?
• Oversight of model risk practices in use by 3rd parties given the increasing dependency.
• Evaluating and mitigating for Third party concentration risk
• Do you have a view into 4th party risk and what contractual protections are in place?
• Supervisory interest – how is increased supervisory interest influencing and driving engagement in 3rd party risk practices
• Lessons learned from previous incidents
• What key areas have firms identified for improvement and what steps are they taking?

Moderator:
Paul Walsh, Senior Staff Writer, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Gus Ortega, Head of NonFinancial Risk, Transamerica
Liping Jiang, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Risk Management, Chubb
Steve Guijarro, U.S Chief Risk Officer & Group Head of Exposure Management, Ascot

WHAT LIES BEHIND THE HEADLINES ON THE CRE MARKET?

• How does the CRE sector look today and what is the anticipated trajectory over the coming months/years?
• Which factors are going to be most influential in determining the outlook for the CRE market?
• Role of the Fed and economy
• What role are CRE investments playing in your portfolio?
• How do you anticipate allocations to CRE changing if at all?
• Risks and opportunities
• How are new RBC rules influencing allocation decisions with respect to CRE?
• How are the different property types performing?
• Which pose the most challenges and where do you see the opportunities?
• Real estate debt investing vs equity investing - weighing up the pros and cons.

Moderator:
Sanjana Raturi, Head of Financial Risk Management, New York Life Insurance Company

Panellists:
David Naranjo, Managing Director, Investments Credit, Corebridge Financial
Justin Pinckney, Head of Private Debt, AEW Capital Management
Pramit Mukherjee, Senior Director, Investments, Legal and General Retirement America

US LIABILITY CLAIMS: PRESSURE POINTS AHEAD AS THE SOCIAL INFLATION CONTAGION CONTINUES

• Overview of US claims environment and trends.
• Loss trend – is sustained trends in larger verdicts expected or will we settle into a more steady state for claims?
• Modern drivers of social inflation
• How is litigation funding impacting social inflation and what is the future outlook?
• What role does social media and changing communication trends play?
• What tools do insurers have at their disposal to address these drivers?
• Outlook for coming years. Which are the areas insurers should have on their watch lists and what have insurers pin pointed as potential emerging litigation risk areas?
• Pesticides & chemicals liabilities
• Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
• Nanoplastics
• Electric vehicles
• Climate-related litigation
• How might these evolving risk areas evolve?
• What role can the insurance industry play in tackling social inflation?
• Pricing discipline: How do companies need to revisit risk assessment, risk pricing and loss reserve development to better offset future social inflation in longer-tail lines.
• Lobbying for legislation
• Overview of legislative reform efforts in Indiana and Georgia addressing 3rd party litigation funding and legal system abuse. 3rd party litigation funding reform – does this signify the path forward for meaningful reform?

Moderator:
Thomas M. Dawson, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Panellists:
Guenter Kryszon, Chief Underwriting Officer, Markel
Raj Bohra, Executive Vice President, Gallagher Re (subject to final confirmation)
Robert Gordon, Senior Vice President, Policy, Research, and International, American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

REGULATION RISK: REGULATORY OVERSIGHT OF INSURERS' USE OF PRIVATE AND STRUCTURED INVESTMENTS

• Balancing incentives and disincentives -what is the optimal approach to achieve the right amount of accuracy and transparency?
• Is the intensified scrutiny causing insurers to rethink the way they invest in this space?
• Are we closer to a meeting of minds regarding the risk-based capital charge on residuals?
• What do current proposals mean for investment portfolios?
• Cross border reinsurance - How is the growing volume of offshore reinsurance impacting US insurers investments?

Moderator:
Robert Leeming, News Editor, Insurance Asset Risk

Panellists:
Dan Finn, Managing Director, Conning
David Zhang, Managing Director, Head of Securitized Products Research, MSCI
Mariana Gomez-Vock, Senior Vice President, Prudential Policy & International, ACLI
Michael F. Consedine, EVP, Head of US Government and Regulatory Relations, Athene

PANEL DISCUSSION: PANEL DISCUSSION: STRESSING AND MANAGING FOR MULTIPLE INTERCONNECTED EXTERNAL RISKS

• Which external risks are top of mind for you?
• What are your 'below-the-radar' risks?
• How are companies adapting stress scenarios to manage an increasingly interconnected and broadening range of risks
• Navigating the interconnected and systemic nature of risks
• What is driving this increased interconnectivity, scope and velocity of risks that we see today?
• How do you balance the need for a direct focus on individual risks vs taking a holistic view?
• Identifying correlations – where do risks diversify or compound each other?
• How adept are companies at managing external risks?
• What ongoing oversight and monitoring tools do you use to track changes to external risks?
• Adapting to a world where extreme external risks crystallise at speed – how do you get prepared for that?
• How do you remain adept and agile?
• Role of AI – risk enhancer or vital tool in external risk mitigation?

Moderator:
Paul Walsh, Senior Staff Writer, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Arya Yarpezeshkan, Managing Director, Enterprise Risk Management, AIG
Florian Richard, Chief Risk Officer, Americas and Head of Underwriting Risk, Axa XL
Keith McDonagh, Corporate Controller, MassMutual
Preeti Gureja, Senior Vice President Enterprise Risk Management, Chubb

ALM & LIQUIDITY TECHNIQUES TO MAINTAIN A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE CURRENT RATE ENVIRONMENT

• Steps to better understand data and policy holder behaviour
• With firms sitting on huge potential unrealised losses, what ALM techniques are firms deploying to manage the risk of elevated lapsation activity?
• Risk monitoring and portfolio optimisation techniques – how are insurers making sure their liquidity is at sufficient levels to meet capital calls
• Navigating IMR
• Product innovation in the current rate environment
• ALM considerations in product design
• Capturing the trends
• Pricing reaction time
• Implementing into IT systems quickly enough

Moderator:
Jason Huibregtse, Director, Investment Risk and Planning, TruStage

Panellists:
Bill Carton, Head of Investment Risk, Axa XL
Kamyar (Kam) Moud, Head of Hedging Programs and Trading, Corebridge Financial
Xiaowei Han, Vice President, Head of ALM, TIAA