Event programme

Opening address and welcome

Chairmen: Paul Fulcher, RBS and Andrew Hitchcox, Kiln

Plenary one:  Balancing risk and reward – Do we understand this better now or are we doomed to repeat past mistakes?

John will discuss how we think about risk?   And how we use models?  He will describe the different meanings of risk and the different ways of thinking about risk, and explains how models are indispensable in finance and economics but misused by people who make the mistake of thinking that economic models are true.

Speaker: John Kay, Economist and author

Real life case studies of professionalism issues

You will be presented with hypothetical case studies designed to reflect real life, using  events taken from  the Milan Vukelic financial reinsurance case (Financial Services and Markets Tribunal  2009), the Paul Moore whistleblowing case (UK Treasury Select Committee Evidence 2009) and the collapse of Lehman Brothers (USA Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission 2010). The case studies will illustrate professionalism issues and you will be asked to exercise your judgement in deciding how to apply Actuaries’ Code Principles  to these case studies. Useful pre-reading will be the “Integrity” article in the April edition of The Actuary.
    

Speaker: Tony Hewitt, Imperial College Business School 
 

Pension fund governance – a CEO's view        

Drawing on Sally’s lessons learned as an actuarial consultant and now as executive trustee director at the BP Pension Fund, participants will have the opportunity to explore some key governance questions:

• what financial risks do pension fund trustees need to manage?
• who is accountable for investment decisions?
• how should responsibilities and risks be measured and reported?
• what resources and governance structures are needed?
• how can actuarial advisers and product providers help support pension fund trustees?

Speaker: Sally Bridgeland, BP Pension Scheme

Regulatory frameworks - lessons learned from the crisis and potential implications for long-term investors

The recent credit crunch and the vulnerabilities it has highlighted for the global financial system have generated considerable debate. The general view is that ‘something ought to be done’, particularly regarding banking regulation, but there is less consensus on quite what this ‘something’ should be. In this paper and in the associated presentation we summarise the main elements of the debate and explore:

• what is the purpose of regulation, particularly for pension funds and insurance companies?
• what are the main issues for such investors raised by this crisis and other earlier ones?
• what ideas have been put forward to tackle these issues, what are their strengths and weaknesses and what might be their indirect effects?

Speakers: Malcolm Kemp, Nematrian and
Elliot Varnell, KPMG

Lessons we have learned regarding risk management modelling  

Lessons of the past financial crises have not been learned. Financial models failed for technical, conceptual and even cultural reasons. But managing risk without models is like flying an A380 without instruments.

Speaker: Bruno Solnik, HEC Paris