Programme
This will be a full day conference with approximate timings of:
09.00
Registration & Fika
09.30
Session 1: Geopolitical and Macroeconomic Outlook
11.05
Session 2: Resilient by Design: Rethinking Strategic Asset Allocation
This session looks at the macro headwinds and geopolitical risks shaping the global backdrop, and what persistently higher inflation, the path of interest rates and fixed income positioning mean for your portfolio. Energy security is now at the forefront of many people's minds, and many pension funds have already invested in regional renewable infrastructure — hydropower, wind, battery storage — to strengthen resilience and meet net-zero goals.
Speakers:
Beyond Bonds
The session will explore the key themes shaping our investment approach, starting with our Asset Barometer and the inflation risks our clients are most concerned about, including how we manage these risks across the portfolios we oversee. We will discuss our macro outlook and the current geopolitical landscape, including our dynamic approach to bonds within multi-asset portfolios and the use of diversifiers to hedge risks across different timeframes and scenarios. The session will also cover commodities, how we access them and case studies from this year, alongside opportunities in infrastructure and private markets, particularly in European defence and resilience across cyber, healthcare and defence. Finally, we will provide a high-level overview of our protection toolkit, including options, FX and alternatives.
10.45
Fika
Cat Head Revisited
Geopolitical tensions, rising energy prices and renewed inflationary pressures are creating significant uncertainty for global markets. This session will explore the potential implications for US policy in the Middle East, inflation, risk sentiment, yield curves and G10 central bank policy, including the growing appeal of out-of-the-money optionality in a world of fatter market tails.
We will also examine whether AI investment expectations can be sustained amid higher yields, financing pressures and energy constraints, alongside growing European sovereign debt risks, particularly in France, and the relative attractiveness of high-debt sovereign markets.
Building on the previous session, we look at how portfolios should evolve as geopolitical conflict, regulatory divergence and the climate crisis reshape risk and opportunity. How should diversification be reconsidered, where does the strongest potential lie across asset classes, and what role can defence and less conventional strategies, including structured credit, play? We also ask how ESG and climate commitments are holding up under pressure, and whether natural capital is becoming an investable opportunity.
Speakers:
European CLOs. An opportunity worth exploring.
European CLOs remain underrepresented in institutional portfolios despite their historical resilience and attractive relative value. This presentation explains how CLOs work, the structural protections available to investors, and why the asset class may be particularly suitable for long-term investors seeking diversification and a structural credit premium.
ESG under pressure? Next steps for climate and nature in institutional portfolios
As geopolitical tension and regulatory divergence test ESG commitments, climate and nature risks are quietly becoming a core part of financial risk management. This talk sets out what that means for pension investors in practice. It covers how climate and nature risks can be assessed together across portfolios, and how those assessments can inform strategic asset allocation, stewardship and reporting, including supervisory expectations for insurers and pension providers. Drawing on KPMG’s work with European investors, the talk also looks at what a credible nature-related due diligence process involves and how nature can be integrated into an institutional investor’s portfolio.
12.05
Session 3: Investing in Private Markets and Real Assets – New and Emerging Opportunities, the Risks and Their Role in Portfolios
This session asks whether private markets are delivering the returns investors expect, and how risk has changed, particularly in private credit and equity. We will also consider whether real assets should now play a more prominent role given the higher and more persistent inflationary outlook, and how governance, transparency and measurement can be improved following recent losses on illiquid investments.
Speaker announced to date:
The Evolving Role of Private Markets: Opportunities, Risks and Portfolio Resilience
12.50
Lunch
14.00
Close of Conference
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.