Breakfast (Star Sapphire C)

Opening remarks and icebreaker activity (Star Sapphire AB)

The U.S. presidential election and geopolitical risk

The 2024 U.S. presidential election will impact the economy, U.S.-China relations, the Middle East and potentially the war in Ukraine. This session will discuss the outcome of the election and its implications for financial and energy markets as well as foreign policy.

Speaker:

Lew Lukens, former ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau and senior partner, Signum Global Advisors

Integrating quantitative strategies in fixed income portfolios

This session will explore applications of quantitative strategies in fixed income portfolios. Attendees will learn how these innovative approaches can complement a manager’s style, enhance diversification and exploit new sources of alpha, providing robust risk-adjusted returns in today's dynamic market environment.

Speaker:

Patrick Duplessis, portfolio manager, fixed income, Trans-Canada Capital Inc.

Networking break (Star Sapphire Foyer)

Investing with impact

Today’s investors have the opportunity to support and accelerate the advancement of social equity through impact investing. This discussion will highlight Martin Currie’s work on impact investing, exploring the different channels used to achieve it and discussing the attractive investment opportunities presented by focusing on social equity. It will also explore how to identify, measure and report on social impact.

Speaker:

John Gilmore, investment analyst and portfolio manager, Martin Currie Ltd.

This session has been made possible by Franklin Templeton.

Settling into a new normal

As the global inflation convulsion fades into the rear-view mirror, attention is turning to the new state or normality that will emerge next. Will productivity continue to languish, leading to stagnant economic growth or even a recession? Or will advancing technology lead to a new strong-growth trajectory? Where will interest rates land? And what will it all mean for our investment environment?

Speaker:

Stephen Poloz, special advisor, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Lunch (Star Sapphire C)

Emerging markets equities in the new era

Emerging markets may have regained their footing, but the recovery has been anything but uniform across individual markets. As a new emerging market cycle unfolds, the heterogeneous dynamics and secular themes that drove performance in 2023 are expected to continue to shape market behaviour. This session will examine topics such as the divergent trajectories of China and India, surging demand for AI-related hardware and the reshaping of global supply chains.

Speaker:

Vivian Lin Thurston, partner and portfolio manager, William Blair

A unique approach to quantitative and fundamental research integration in equity portfolios

Public equity markets are evolving with fewer public companies, less mean reversion and fewer winners taking a greater share of the markets. Traditional quantitative models, often relying on some semblance of mean reversion, have proven less effective in this environment. This session will discuss methods for building potentially more resilient portfolios and integrating quantitative and fundamental insights to navigate the changing environment.

Speaker:

Peter Stournaras, head, integrated equity group, T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

The shifting geopolitical landscape: Perspective from behavioural finance

Investors often consider geopolitical matters in idiosyncratic terms, framing each new issue or event as a ‘one-off’ tied to a unique context with isolated implications. This session will explore persistent themes in the shifting geopolitical landscape through a systematic and behavioural lens to help investors outperform in an unpredictable market.

Speaker:

Seth Weingram, senior vice-president, director, client advisory, Acadian Asset Management

Networking break (Star Sapphire Foyer)

Power play: The data centre investment opportunity in Europe

Technological advancements, development of the cloud and the advent of artificial intelligence has rapidly accelerated demand for data infrastructure globally. These mega trends combined with an increased need for localization are creating sizeable, near-term investment opportunities to develop build-to-suit data centres for hyper-scalers in high growth European markets. This session will discuss the keys to unlocking this quickly moving opportunity: on the ground real estate expertise and operational knowledge.

Speaker:

Nick Minto, senior vice-president, commercial real estate, PIMCO

Liability-aware investing: A case study from the Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System

The Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System has embraced a liability-aware investing framework that provides a total plan perspective by capturing the relationship between asset performance and changes in the liability discount rate. In this case study, the plan’s chief investment officer will describe how the framework has improved performance and risk assessment processes, as well as how it has resulted in the decision to move away from short-term asset classes like hedge funds in favour of long-term classes like equities, real assets and long-term government bonds.

Speaker:

Jason Malinowski, chief investment officer, Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System

Formal cocktail reception and dinner (Emerald Foyer and Ballroom)