Insurance Risk & Capital Bermuda 2024

REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

WELCOMING REMARKS

C-SUITE STRATEGIC HUB: BUILDING AND SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE RESILIENCE OF BERMUDA’S INSURANCE MARKET

• Which factors will shape and determine the insurance value chain over the coming months and years?
• Curveballs on the horizon - 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?
• What do the panellists consider to be the key components critical to safeguarding the resilience of Bermuda as a global player
• How will Bermuda maintain its competitive edge through evolving regulations and increasing cost of doing business? Against the backdrop of CP2 reforms and the introduction of the global minimum tax will Bermuda remain your jurisdiction of choice?
• How do we compare now with Cayman vis a vis efficiency, Solvency II equivalence, cost of doing business
• People Risk – what changes need to happen from a people risk perspective to ensure the Bermudian market remains sustainable
• Where do the key challenges lie?
• Do measures proposed by government to revisit long term residency go far enough to resolve the tight talent pool
• How will it be effective in retaining the local pool and provide incentives for Bermudians to return to Bermuda
• Creating jobs and opportunities for local talent
• Knocking down barriers to entry and development
• Where are the new market opportunities?
• Exploring Funded reinsurance as a potential growth area
• How are insurers approaching new market opportunities in global jurisdictions
• Exploring and maximizing asset intensive reinsurance opportunities in Asia.
• What are the growth opportunities?
• What benefit is there to being domiciled in Bermuda with regard to this opportunity and what solutions are Bermuda based reinsurers able to bring to the table
• What barriers will potential newcomers have to overcome in order to win business
• How do you position your company to be well placed to spot and take opportunities whilst ensuring it is done in a protected manner?

Moderator:
Kelvin Lam, Partner, Deloitte

Panellists:
Amy Kessler, Chairperson and CEO, Prismic Life
Collin Anderson, Director, Policy and Regulation, Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR)
Lisa Fontanetta, Chief Operating Officer, Mosaic Insurance
Neha Arora, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Athora Life Re

CRO PANEL DISCUSSION

• Keeping pace with regulatory change
• What have the CP2 reforms meant for your institution?
• Where are firms in their journey to implementation and compliance and which are the key areas where challenges and unresolved issues persist?
• How does the board need to respond to increased oversight requirements and how do CROs engage effectively with the board?
• How do you continue to evolve the operating model to have a better collaboration between finance, actuarial and risk
• How are you reassessing liquidity risk and model risk practices as a result?
• How have insurers dealt with the increased burden of regulation in general for the industry over recent years and how do we ensure it is a force for good?
• Geopolitical risk landscape at centre stage. Against a backdrop of continually evolving tensions and a pivotal year of elections, how should insurers be positioning themselves?
• What geopolitical risk scenarios are you considering?
• How are insurers assessing potential disruption and implications for global supply chains and other potential knock-on impacts on the business?
• How are insurers viewing the risk profile of social media and its ability to influence the geopolitical risk landscape?
• 2024 is mega election year. Which potential changes to public policy and legislation will be of most significance to Bermuda and the insurance sector and how are insurers positioning for this??
• Balancing the Risks and Opportunities arising from digitialisation and AI
• How is AI set to change the environment around us and are our control frameworks sufficient for the challenge ahead?
• What risks should insurers be considering and is the risk of being left behind the greatest of the risks?
• Practical use case examples – where have insurers identified opportunities and started incorporating AI?

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

Panellists:
Paolo Fiandesio, Chief Risk Officer, Soteria Reinsurance Ltd.
Ophelia Engelhardt-Funke, Chief Risk Officer, Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America (Bermuda)
Sean Voien, Bermuda and Cayman Chief Risk Officer, Talcott Financial Group (subject to final confirmation)

PRESENTATION: TIGHT CREDIT SPREADS ACROSS MARKETS: WHAT CAN INSURERS DO TO IMPROVE INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS WITHOUT ADDING RISK?

• Credit markets are pricing to perfection despite geopolitical stresses
• What techniques can be used to maintain and/or improve investment portfolio yields
• How can insurers go about this without simply increasing the overall risk of the portfolio and degrading the average credit rating
• Are there opportunities that the Bermuda insurance community can benefit from that European companies may struggle to take advantage of?
• How can insurers add private assets into the portfolio with suitable risk management?

Speaker: Russell Lee, Global Head of Insurance Solutions, M&G

PANEL DISCUSSION: INVESTING IN ALTERNATIVE CREDIT

• How have alternative credit investments built up over time in Bermudian insurers' portfolios? What drives the appetite for it? And how might that appetite change overtime and why?
• What is the investment case for and against for alternative credit generally speaking?
• And in the current context of high interest rates: core fixed income yield more and offer liquidity, or private credit still offer an illiquidity/complexity premium over risk-free?
• Is alternative credit an 'alpha-producing' investment, able to withstand public market shocks?
• How have re/insurers built up teams to either do direct investing, or monitor and pick AMs to do the investing for them in alt credit? Do they foresee the skillsets needed, changing over time, if the nature, opportunity and risks in alternative credit markets are changing?
• Key regulatory considerations when investing in alternative credit?

Moderator:
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk

Panellists:
Andrew Bedward, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Lotus Reinsurance Company Ltd.
Jim Fitzpatrick, Chief Investment Officer, North America and Head of Global Loans, Manulife/CQS Investment Management
Rob Steinhoff, CFA, Senior Investment Executive, Gard

SUPERVISORS IN CONVERSATION: KEY AREAS OF REGULATORY FOCUS ON THE HORIZON. WHERE ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COHESION AND COLLABORATION?

• What are your top areas of priority going into 2025 and beyond
• Where do goals align/differ?
• To what extent are supervisors looking to collaborate and achieve consistency in regulatory approaches to achieving goals.
• What are the trends that regulators are seeing as having a potential impact on financial stability and how are they positioning to best mitigate these risks?
• AI - how are regulators approaching and considering AI and what might future regulation surrounding AI look like
• Funded reinsurance
• PE-backed insurance
• Climate change
• Now that interest rates are so high, how is that going to impact the influx of capital into the industry?
• What is the 1 piece of advice you would give to insurers?

Moderator:
Chris Cundy, Managing Editor, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Nathan Houdek, Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Wisconsin
Ricardo Garcia, Managing Director, Bermuda Monetary Authority

MAINTAINING MOMENTUM IN THE CLIMATE RISK JOURNEY AMID COMPETING PRESSURES

• Taking stock – where are we on the journey and how effective are we being? What is hampering progress? What barriers stand in the way of progress
• How can insurers most effectively and appropriately make a material difference?
• Reconciling diverging European and US cultures and influences
• BMA climate disclosures consultation paper – latest updates and industry feedback
• Are regulatory reporting requirements and concerns around managing reputational risk distracting insurers from their ability to make a material impact in the transition journey?
• With many competing challenges to the business from other pressing material risks, how are insurers prioritise the allocation of time and resources?
• Challenges around scenario and stress testing
• Meeting Sustainability goals and commitments
• Bermuda government initiatives (single use plastic and electric vehicles)
• Translating commitments into something that also works for the business.
• What does good look like and how do we strive to get there?
• Ensuring sustainability goals are long-term viable commitments and not short term 'buzz words'
• Can the commitments last the market cycle as other business pressures (not just risks but profitability, resource constraints, etc) lead to prioritization
• How viable and achievable are science-based net zero targets in practice and what is the roadmap to compliance?
• How do you begin designing and implementing a net zero strategy?
• How does climate risk integrate into your overall business strategy?
• Are insurers looking to have more robust forward looking cat modelling
• The insurers' role in helping companies towards transition and a sustainable pathway.

Moderator:
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk

Panellists:
Andrew Smith, Chief Risk and Sustainability Officer, Conduit Re
Andy Macfarlane, Head of Climate, Axa XL
Ralf Kuerzdoerfer, Deputy Director, Bermuda Monetary Authority
William Coatesworth, Deputy Group Chief Risk Officer, Monument Re

PRESENTATION: HEDGING ALTERNATIVES FOR MORE EFFICIENT RISK MANAGEMENT

• How hedging solutions can help provide earnings and balance sheet stability in turbulent and changing markets
• Which hedging instruments are best suited for different types of risk exposure
• How companies can develop hedging programs that will be resilient to market stresses and assumption updates
• How hedging can be used with SAA and asset selection to optimize balance sheet/capital outcomes
• How ALM modelling can enhance hedging strategy today and in the future
• Alternatives for managing risks outside the scope of a traditional hedging program

Speaker:
Chris Onken, Principal and Consulting Actuary, Milliman

PANEL DISCUSSION: MANAGING MULTIPLE INTERCONNECTED EXTERNAL RISKS

• Which external risks are top of mind for you?
• What are your 'below-the-radar' risks?
• Navigating the interconnected and systemic nature of risks

• How are companies adapting risk practices and approaches to keep pace and stay ahead of changing boundaries and interactions between the risks?
• How are companies revisiting stress scenarios to manage the increasingly interconnected and broadening range 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?
• Flipping the conversation -taking a strategic stance to find positivity and opportunity presented by the risks

Moderator:
Chris Cundy, Managing Editor, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Emmanuel Brulé, Chief Risk Officer, Sompo International
Jan Spindler, Chief Risk Officer, Hannover Re (Bermuda) Ltd
Rebecca Jones, Chief Risk Officer, Nautilus Indemnity Holdings Limited
Snez Tremblay, Chief Risk Officer, GRS LATAM and Bermuda, Liberty Mutual

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

• How have firms revisited ALM practices as a result of the interest 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
• How to leverage use of stress testing and other risk appetite monitoring techniques
• Product innovation in the current rate environment
• ALM considerations in product design
• Capturing the trends
• Pricing reaction time and decision making
• Implementing into IT systems quickly enough

Moderator:
Tony Dardis, Principal and Consulting Actuary, Milliman

Panellists:
Matthew Roche, Chief Investment Officer, Legal and General Reinsurance (subject to final confirmation)
Ming Zhang, Chief Risk Officer, Fortitude Re
Piero Falcucci, Co-Founder and Chief Risk Officer, Triangle Life
Theresa Patricios, Head of Investments, Convex Insurance

FIRESIDE CHAT: SUBROGATION – AN UNDERUTILISED ASSET FOR INSURERS

with Gregory M. Zarin, Founder & CEO, SubroSmart

in conversation with Chris Cundy, Managing Editor, InsuranceERM

BUILDING A CYBER RESILIENT ECONOMY: RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD FOR THE CYBER INSURANCE MARKET

• What trends are we seeing in cyber events and claims?
• Are we well placed to meet growth expectations for the cyber market?
• How are cyber insurers adapting to the ever-changing cybersecurity threat landscape?
• What impact are escalating geopolitical tensions having on the cyber threat landscape?
• Innovation – What new coverages are insurers bringing to market to address Gen AI – related risks?
• Where are the challenges in ensuring risks associated with Gen AI are adequately addressed and covered
• How is the industry working to overcome limitations with cyber risk models?

Moderator:
Chris Cundy, Managing Editor, InsuranceERM

Panellists:
Ari Chatterjee, Chief Underwriting Officer, Envelop Risk
Devin Page, Senior Vice President, Head of Specialty Reinsurance, Bermuda, Ascot Group
Noel Pearman, Chief Underwriting Officer, Bermuda, AXA XL

CLOSING REMARKS

DRINKS RECEPTION