18:00 – 18:15
Welcome Remarks
18:15 – 19:15
Session 1: Markets Without a Map: Risk, Resilience and Judgement at a Mid-2026 Inflection Point
19:15 – 22:00
Cocktail Reception and Dinner
08:00 – 09:15
Session 2: Geopolitics and Global Security
From Ukraine and the Middle East to the US–China rivalry, geopolitical risk is a structural input into the investment environment rather than an episodic shock. This panel surveys the security, sanctions, cyber, and supply-chain developments most likely to influence markets and reshape risk premia for institutional investors. Speakers will examine scenarios around energy security, technology controls, AI and cyber escalation, and how these forces are transmitted into markets through prices, volatility, funding conditions and structural constraints. The discussion will clarify the key fault lines facing long-horizon institutional investors, setting the context for subsequent sessions on portfolio and mandate responses.
09:15 – 10:30
Session 3: Investment Management
After a decade of easy liquidity, asset owners are operating in a more volatile, higher-rate regime that is reshaping risk budgets, return expectations and governance frameworks. This session examines how CIOs and fund boards are responding to this environment in practice, including how they are reassessing liquidity, managing spreads and downside risk, and recalibrating the role of private markets. Discussion will centre on decision-making under uncertainty–what risks are actively hedged, what risks are tolerated, and how mandates and manager relationships are being redesigned to reflect a more demanding investment environment.
10:30 – 10:45
Networking Break
10:45 – 12:00
Session 4: Trumpdoktrinen: Key Shifts in US Capital Markets Policy and Their Implications for European Asset Owners
Recent changes in US policy extend beyond foreign and trade relations and increasingly affect the functioning of US capital markets. Alongside geopolitical and industrial policy shifts, the US is re-examining core aspects of capital markets governance, including shareholder voting rights, engagement and stewardship practices, reliance on proxy advisers, disclosure obligations, access to courts in cases of fraud, and the scope of fiduciary duties owed by company directors to shareholders.
For European asset owners with significant exposure to US markets, these developments raise practical questions about investor rights, stewardship effectiveness and legal recourse, as well as the consistency between stated investment beliefs and what can be delivered in practice through US-domiciled holdings and managers.
In this session, a US legal and policy expert and a leading EU institutional investor examine three key shifts in US public markets policy, assess their implications from an investor perspective and discuss how asset owners across Europe should think about governance, engagement and risk management in the US market as policy continues to evolve in 2026.
12:00 – 13:00
Lunch
13:00 – 14:00
Session 5: US Elections Preview: 2026 Midterms and Trump’s Second Term
US policy is once again a global risk factor as investors look ahead to the 2026 midterms and the final two years of Trump’s second term. This session will unpack scenarios on fiscal and tax policy, industrial strategy, trade and tariffs, and financial regulation—and how each could ripple through rates, equities and the dollar. Discussion will pay particular attention to transatlantic frictions on ESG, climate and tech policy that affect EU mandates with US managers. A seasoned Washington panel will translate US political theatre into clear signals for strategic, long-horizon investors in Europe.
14:00 – 15:00
Session 6: Global AI Policy: A Deep Dive for Investors
AI is now a macro theme, but the long-term distribution of value will be shaped as much by regulation, governance and security considerations as by technological capability. This panel examines how differing policy approaches in the US, China and Europe are likely to influence market structure, capital requirements, competition and risk concentration across the AI value chain.
Drawing on perspectives from technology, policy and investment, discussion will explore how regulation may alter barriers to entry, pricing power and accountability, where state involvement changes the investment risk profile, and how global standards may be set in practice rather than on paper. For long-horizon investors, the session focuses on distinguishing durable business models from speculative narratives, understanding where regulatory risk is underappreciated, and identifying where AI exposure sits most appropriately within diversified portfolios.
15:00 – 15:15
Networking Break
15:15 – 16:15
Session 7: EU Pension Consolidation: Perspectives and Challenges from the UK, Nordics and Netherlands
Europe’s pension landscape is entering a period of intense consolidation and restructuring. This session looks across leading markets—Netherlands, UK LGPS, Nordics and beyond—to examine how reforms, need for scale and governance reforms are reshaping schemes. Discussion focuses on implications for asset allocation and private markets access and highlights where consolidation creates opportunities for innovative managers and where it raises operational and stewardship challenges for boards.
16:15 – 17:00
Session 8: Sustainability and Stewardship: From Purpose to Performance
Sustainability has moved from a focus on commitment and integration towards a sharper test of outcomes and credibility. Asset owners are increasingly judged by beneficiaries, boards, regulators and external stakeholders on whether stewardship actions translate into observable decisions, effective escalation and long-term value protection.
After a decade of rapid adoption, sustainability integration faces growing scrutiny, fatigue and political pushback. Fiduciaries must demonstrate that stewardship enhances performance and risk management rather than diluting fiduciary focus, substituting conviction with process, or defaulting to compliance-led approaches.
This session examines how leading European asset owners are embedding sustainability into investment decision-making and governance in practice. Discussion explores how stewardship priorities are set and escalated, how success and failure are assessed, and how fiduciaries maintain accountability and credibility while operating across divergent regulatory and political regimes.
17:00 – 17:15
Closing Remarks
17:30 – 21:00
Cocktail Reception and Dinner