Breakfast (Bengal Room)

Opening remarks and icebreaker activity (Crystal Ballroom)

Canada in an era of anti-globalization

For the past four decades, Canada has benefited from globalization. As a trading nation with deep ties to the U.S. and broad access to global markets, our economy generally thrived in an era of free trade and global exchange. But that era is over. The question is no longer how to expand the system but how Canada adapts to a world of managed trade and constrained globalization. This session will explore the changing rules of the global economy and propose new strategies for Canada to equal the challenge such as bold corporate tax reform, regulatory modernization and other pro-growth policies.

Speaker:
Sean Speer, political commentator and public policy analyst

Emerging markets debt in an evolving world

Emerging markets debt is a large, diverse and often misunderstood segment of the global fixed-income universe. As the asset class continues to evolve, it presents a growing range of alpha and diversification opportunities for institutional investors. This session will explore how emerging markets debt — including local and frontier markets — may be a compelling solution for Canadian institutional investors today.

Speaker:
Yvette Babb, portfolio manager, William Blair

Networking break (Palm Court)

The journey in systematic fixed income: Are we there yet?

While factor investing has become mainstream in equities, systematic strategies in fixed income are still catching up. The opportunity is significant: investors are searching for consistent and diversified sources of alpha beyond traditional bond management. This session will explore how systematic fixed income differs from conventional approaches, how it leverages the approaches and frameworks employed by top equity quant funds in fixed income and how portfolios run in this fashion have delivered strong, repeatable and uncorrelated active returns.

Speaker:
Bernd Wuebben, director, systematic investing and quantitative research, AllianceBernstein

Opportunities in structured credit

This session will explore the customizable risk profile and why investors should be looking at collateralized loan obligation tranches in their private credit allocations. Investments in third-party CLO tranches provide the opportunity to easily target specific regions of the risk/reward spectrum, while maintaining broad diversification. Secondary markets provide opportunities to take advantage of dislocations while providing liquidity at any point in the investment cycle.

Speaker:
David Lindstone, executive director, Benefit Street Partners - Alcentra, a Franklin Templeton Company

Lunch (Bengal Room)

The future of long-term investing: Balancing innovation and stability

In this fireside chat, CPP Investments’ Derek Walker will explore how the organization’s disciplined, long-term approach continues to deliver stable, sustainable returns for Canadians in retirement. He’ll discuss how global uncertainty — from geopolitics to shifting markets — is shaping investment decisions and where CPP Investments sees opportunities to drive innovation, resilience and long-term value — both globally and at home.

Speaker:
Derek Walker, managing director, head of applied research and models, total fund management, CPP Investments

Moderator:
Steve Foerster, finance professor, Western University

Navigating uncertainty: Secular shifts and capital markets

This session will provide market commentary covering equities, fixed income and real assets, as well as share thoughts on secular shifts — ranging from artificial intelligence to monetary and fiscal changes — and the corresponding impact on capital markets. It will also share a perspective on high conviction asset classes to assist money managers better navigate uncertainty.

Speaker:
Karlan Patel, vice-president, ETF investment strategist, State Street Investment Management

Investigative journalistic-style investment research: The who, what, where, when and why

This session will describe a niche form of investment research based on the tradecraft of investigative journalism. It will go into what investigative research is, where it makes sense, when investors may need it, who the ideal investigative analyst is and more.

Speaker:
Raphael Lewis, head, specialist research, BNY Investments Newton

Networking break (Palm Court)

Rethinking global equities: A blueprint for sustained alpha

Equity markets have become increasingly challenging for active managers, with persistent underperformance raising questions about traditional approaches. This session explores how rethinking portfolio construction — through diversification, risk alignment and style-agnostic design — can help mitigate underperformance risk and create a more stable pathway to generating consistent alpha.

Speaker:
David Alloune, vice-president, asset allocation, Trans-Canada Capital Inc.

Panel: How is AI being integrated into pension funds’ investment decisions?

With the artificial intelligence revolution already ushering in innovative solutions for many industries, how are AI tools being integrated into investment analytics, operations and decision-making? This panel session will explore how AI can play a meaningful role in investment decisions and the safety measures in place as the technology gains a foothold.

Panellists:
Jacky Chen, managing director, completion portfolio strategies, total portfolio management, OPTrust

Russ Goyenko, associate professor, finance, McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management

Jennifer Hartfield, senior vice-president, corporate data and operations, British Columbia Investment Management Corp.

Formal cocktail reception and dinner (Foyer Lower Level and Shaughnessy Room)