FIS Maastricht 2022

This session examines the economic, political and social forces at play in Europe and its likely fate as it deals with the consequences of an unprecedented crisis on its doorstep.

The outlook for the euro area activity and inflation has become very uncertain and depends crucially on how the war in Ukraine unfolds. This session examines the broader macro economic environment for Europe and the expected monetary and fiscal responses.

Investor response: The changing macro environment

As investors aspire to expand from shareholder value-driven leadership to broader stakeholder-driven values, new leadership skills are required. What can investors learn from other industries to encompass broader societal and environmental priorities alongside innovative, dynamic team cultures, rather than just focusing on the bottom line.

Investors face a radically different world than the past 40 years. MP3 policies produced massive injections of money and credit into economies, leading to high nominal growth, self-reinforcing inflation, and a tightening of monetary policy which is just beginning. In the face of the strongest inflationary surge in a long time, markets are discounting that one of the smallest tightening cycles on record will be enough to normalise inflation without causing a recession. This is unlikely. The underlying drivers of today’s dynamics means that investments that have proved diversifying over the last 40 years will not be as helpful today, and creates the need to rethink what will provide diversification. This session will explore how asset owners can think about the risks ahead and the challenge of finding assets and strategies that are complementary to a typical portfolio.

Includes table discussion

Investors share the experiences of the past two years, the risks and opportunities they have been exploring, how they are tackling macro economic risks such as inflation, climate and geopolitics, and how they are positioning for the portfolio of the future.

Includes table discussion

This session will examine the unfolding war in the Ukraine including Putin’s ambitions and the reaction of the west, and what the inevitable future might be. It examines what China is learning from Russia’s experience, and the potential geopolitical friction that may unfold.

This session will look at how energy security and climate action be advanced in Europe including diversification of oil and gas imports, investing in critical energy infrastructure and accelerating decarbonization.

Includes table discussion

A review of the active management of the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, found it resembles an index fund and is not making the most of its tracking error boundaries. This session examines the role of active management in large asset allocators and how to manage competing priorities.

Includes table discussion

This broad ranging discussion, with one of the biggest and most sophisticated investors in The Netherlands looks at their resilience in the market environment and how they are positioning as future investment organisations.

There is more risk in capital markets today than at any stage in history as investors seek to maintain the level of returns they have become accustomed to. Within that context, has the investment industry focused too much on simply gaining exposure to financial assets, rather than taking responsibility for those assets as an engaged owner? This session challenges the current thinking and discusses how responsible investing should be at the core of investment decision making as the industry moves from a shareholder to stakeholder mindset.

Special guest speaker on the Maastricht treaty

This session invites investors to examine the role investors can play in the climate transition including the role of the private sector in meeting the EU’s sustainability objectives.

What does it really mean to implement a net zero strategy? As more and more investors make pledges for net zero they are tasked with setting a strategy to achieve these goals. This session looks at the challenges of implementation including the investments and products needed to meet the challenge.

Includes table discussion

The COVID-induced economic crisis has revealed fragilities in the global economy and supply chains that have highlighted the need to create a new social contract between workers, governments and businesses.

GRESB, the benchmark that measures the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios, was launched out of Maastricht University in 2009 and has become influential in changing the sector’s performance and environmental impact. This session examines the role of benchmarking and how other asset classes can benefit.

A case study of sustainability integration looking at the strategy, allocations and obstacles of prioritising sustainability issues alongside risk and return.

The sustainable development investment (SDI) Asset Owner Investor Platform launched by Dutch funds APG and PGGM is an AI-driven technology sifts through reams of structured and unstructured data to gauge the extent to which companies’ products and activities meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This session examines the role of AI in investment programs and the usefulness of the SDGs as a roadmap for investing.