The Pulse, a new series of half-day events with a focus on topicality and current dynamics in asset classes of interest to insurers, will hold its next half-day afternoon event on 18 June at Skinners’ Hall, Dowgate Hill, London.
The topic will be Improving Resilience and Harvesting Yield in the Late Credit Cycle, with a particular focus on the growing conundrum around balancing risk, return and capital in fixed income portfolios, an increasingly important issue for insurers today.
This will be an ideal opportunity for those working on fixed income portfolios to hear fresh perspectives and debate with experts on key issues around maximising efficiency and returns on capital, while still insulating the portfolio in an increasingly volatile late cycle environment.
Credit is at the heart of insurance portfolios, but in recent years, insurers have begun to stretch the bounds of core fixed income, adding in new exposures down the credit curve, looking overseas and seeking new premiums as they look to overcome the challenges of a low yield environment. Yet, as we enter the late cycle and downside risks increase, insurers face a new conundrum: how to maintain returns on capital while still increasing resilience?
The topics include:
• Improving resilience: Private placements, municipal bonds and credit risk premia baskets
• Squeezing every drop: Minimising leakage in the credit premium on MA and non-MA portfolios
• An unconstrained approach to fixed income?: Shifting sands and new dynamics
The key speakers will be Peter Cornax, senior investment strategist at AllianceBernstein, Jason Lejonvarn, managing director and global investment strategist at BNY Mellon and Ronan O’Riordan, director, UK institutional with Russell Investments.
As well as presenting short, focussed insights into the topics above, all three will also take part in a panel discussion with plenty of opportunity for attendees to ask questions and put them on the spot.
The Pulse series was launched by the Insurance Investment Exchange at the end of March 2019. Their aim is to put leading experts and strategists in specific asset classes on the spot with insights into the current state of the market, key trends, future prospects, risks and opportunities, all with a specific focus on the unique needs of insurers and key points of topicality today.