FUTURE
CONFERENCES
Programme
09.00
Registration
09.30
​From Regulation to Implementation: How Irish Pension Funds Are Actually Changing in 2026
Session Overview:
Ireland’s pensions landscape is undergoing significant transformation, driven by regulatory change, the introduction of auto-enrolment, and evolving member expectations. This session brings together key industry stakeholders to assess where the market stands today — and where it is heading.
Panellists will explore how pension schemes are adapting to policy developments, governance demands, and structural shifts from DB to DC, while also addressing the operational and strategic challenges these changes present.
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Key Takeaways:
• What auto-enrolment means for existing schemes and providers
• Key regulatory developments shaping the Irish pensions market
• The continued evolution from DB to DC and master trust solutions
• How pension funds are adapting governance and oversight models
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Speakers to date:
Lorna White
Knowledge and Governance Leader
Mercer
11.00
Networking Break with Tea/Coffee
11.20
Repricing Risk: Navigating Private Markets, Liquidity & Geopolitics
Managing Director
Neuberger
​How Many Hikes Are Too Many? The ECB's Uncomfortable Truth
The ECB is preparing to embark on yet another tightening cycles in response to supply side inflation. But at what point does determination become overreach? In this presentation, we challenge the consensus view, arguing that the number of hikes currently priced by the market goes beyond what European economic fundamentals can reasonably support. From deteriorating growth signals and tightening lending conditions to the uneven impact of rate rises across the Eurozone, we lay out the uncomfortable truth: the ECB may be heading toward doing too much and the market has yet to fully reckon with that reality.
Co-Head of Investment Specialists
BNP Paribas Asset Management
De-Risking in a Period of Uncertainty
While economic uncertainty continues to persist, improving member security remains the paramount objective for pension schemes. Achieving this requires a more nimble approach to de-risking. Bruno Bamberger will explore this through a client case study, highlighting how BNPP AM partnered with an Irish pension client to implement a cashflow framework designed to efficiently de-risk using credit and ABS strategies.
12.20
Lunch
13.20
Alternative Credit Strategies: Trade Finance & Asset-Backed Securities
This session explores two alternative fixed income strategies that have gained traction among institutional investors seeking diversification and attractive risk-adjusted returns away from traditional credit markets.
CIO Global High Yield
Allianz Global Investors
Trade Finance - an alternative diversified short duration credit strategy
We will discuss the breadth of the trade finance universe driven by real-economy trade flows, not credit cycles alone. The asset class provides low volatility, low correlation characteristics and ultra short duration nature, whilst providing strong risk adjusted returns vs credit alternatives. All of these align well with a market where we are seeing tight spreads across credit and a need from investors to diversify credit sources and derisk portfolios.
FIA, Client Director, UK Institutional Business
Aegon Asset Management
Opportunities in Asset-Backed Securities
Asset backed securities (ABS) have grown in popularity among institutional investors in recent years as they seek to broaden exposure away from traditional fixed income to alternative fixed income assets. In this session, we will revisit the fundamentals of ABS and address some of the common misconceptions surrounding the asset class. We will set out the investment case - exploring why ABS can offer attractive risk adjusted returns, diversification benefits, and resilience across market cycles. The session will also address key risks directly, including credit quality, structural protections, and liquidity, and outline how disciplined analysis and thoughtful portfolio construction can help manage these risks effectively.
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14.20
Networking Break with Tea/Coffee
14.40
Keynote: Tuned In or Tuned Out? Your Hidden Decision Risk
In an era of information overload, we have never had access to more data. Yet trust, employee engagement, and judgement continue to decline. Why are the most consequential failures not those of intelligence or strategy but of the systematic factors that cause us to tune out when tuning in matters. Drawing on behavioural science and three decades of experience in global financial services, Nuala Walsh introduces the concept of ‘deaf spots’ and the PERIMETERS framework — ten misjudgement traps that predict where we get it wrong. The session examines why acknowledgement is as critical as the decisions themselves, and how the gap is compounding into one of the most significant and underestimated risks today.
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Key Takeaways:
• Why tone-deaf leadership is rising and what that means for fund selection
• The PERIMETERS model: ten deaf spots we needs to recognise in ourselves, our clients and colleagues
• Why the messenger matters as much as the message
• Five strategies for hearing what others are really telling you
Speaker:
15.45
The Member Equation: Housing, Cashflow Pressure & the Future of Pension Engagement
Pension outcomes are no longer determined purely by investment performance or scheme design — they are increasingly shaped by member financial reality.
Rising housing costs, cost-of-living pressures, and changing workforce expectations are forcing pension schemes to compete directly with short-term financial priorities. At the same time, younger members are entering the system with different attitudes to work, saving, and retirement altogether.
This session explores whether traditional pension engagement models are still fit for purpose — and what needs to change if long-term saving is to remain relevant in a world dominated by immediate financial pressures.
We will hear how pension providers, consultants, and employers are responding in practice, and whether behavioural design — rather than product design — is now the key driver of better outcomes.
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Key Themes:
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Is housing affordability now the biggest structural threat to pension adequacy?
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Are younger members disengaged — or simply responding rationally to financial pressure?
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Why traditional pension communication is failing to change behaviour
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How employers are adapting pension design, contribution structures, and engagement strategies
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What role financial wellbeing tools and behavioural nudges can realistically play
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Whether pension systems are designed for accumulation — or real-life financial trade-offs
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Speaker to date:
16.30
Close of conference followed by Drinks Reception
Cost
The conference is by invitation only for pension funds and other institutional investors and we welcome new attendees from these investors. Therefore if you are not already receiving an invitation please contact us. A limited number of Complimentary invitations are available to genuine pension fund representatives (executives and trustees) and other approved institutional investors. However, to ensure we have room for as many funds as possible, we have to limit free places to 3 attendees per approved organisation thereafter a reduced rate fee is payable per delegate. Furthermore, SPS always reserves the right of admission (free or paid) and our decision is final.
Venue
The Heritage Centre is based in RCPI's historic home at 6 Kildare Street in the centre of Dublin.
Media Partners
