Speakers and topics

How can AI unlock new dimensions of alpha in the context of multi-factor investing?

Founded more than 26 years ago, the Systematic Equity team at Allianz Global Investors has turned academic research into a successful investment strategy. They have been an early adopter of Artificial Intelligence techniques in their approach, in order to deliver enhanced equity market returns. The result is a repeatable, risk-managed approach which aims to consistently provide added value to our clients. Hear more about how investment styles, like value or momentum, carry risk premia that can be harvested through a disciplined systematic approach, and how this can be done largely independent of the economic or the market environment.

CIO Equity
Allianz Global Investors

Dr. Michael Heldmann is CIO Equity at AllianzGI. Prior to this he was deputy CIO Equity and CIO Systematic Equity. Before being named CIO of the overall Systematic Equity platform, he was CIO Systematic Equity US and based in San Francisco. Previously, he also managed Best Styles Emerging Markets and Best Styles Europe Equity products. Before joining the Systematic Equity team, he worked for the international laboratory CERN, Geneva, Switzerland as a researcher in the field of particle physics.

He obtained a master’s degree in Physics from the University of Mainz, Germany and a PhD from the University of Freiburg, Germany. He is a CFA charterholder

Business Developer
Allianz Global Investors

T: +44 (0) 75 5754 4652
E: Henry.Jones@AllianzGI.com

Business Developer
Allianz Global Investors

T: +44 (0) 73 8568 8574
E: chelsea.aliu@allianzgi.com

Business Developer
Allianz Global Investors

T: +44 (0) 79 1755 7687
E: roland.bagnall@allianzgi.com

How to invest in a changing global equity landscape

Concentration in certain parts of the global equity universe necessitate a closer look at where the risks are at a portfolio level. Beyond simple diversification of region, one has to consider diversification of style exposure as well as investment process exposure. A systematic, value aware, truly global strategy offers neat solution to these issues.

Investment Analyst
Artemis Fund Managers

Harry joined Artemis in 2021 and is an analyst within the SmartGARP investment team. He was previously a product specialist, focusing on Artemis’ US equity and SmartGARP strategies, having earlier worked in Artemis’ distribution team, looking after strategic partners. Harry began his career working for a boutique wealth manager that focused on US individuals living in the UK. He graduated from the University of Bristol where he read history. He is a CFA charterholder.

Sales Executive
Artemis Fund Managers

T: +44 (0) 7823 672912
E: joe.wallace@artemisfunds.com

Sales Executive
Artemis Fund Managers

E: az.sharif@artemisfunds.com

Growth investing, done differently

In today's world, innovation is happening at an increasingly rapid pace. But investors wishing to access these opportunities through top-down or thematic approaches may have been disappointed over recent years. From the world's largest active-only asset manager, Capital Group New Economy is a global equity strategy with tried-and-tested approach investing in fast-growing and innovative companies for more than 40 years.

Investment Specialist
Capital Group

John Lamb is an investment specialist at Capital Group. He has 10 years of industry experience and has been with Capital Group for seven years. Prior to joining Capital, John worked as a strategic product management associate at BlackRock. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and management from the University of Oxford. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst? designation. John is based in London.

Managing Director Financial Intermediaries
Capital Group

E: Adam.Price@capitalgroup.com
T: +44 (0) 20 7864 5536

Associate Director Financial Intermediaries London, West of England & Channel Islands
Capital Group

E: shreya.anil@capitalgroup.com
T: +44 (0) 20 7864 5683

From rupture to resilience: finding uncorrelated alpha in a correlated world

In an environment where traditional asset classes offer few places to hide, investors face the dual challenges of preserving capital and sourcing returns. Lofty valuations and rising cross-asset correlations have weakened the effectiveness of conventional defences. Absolute return investing offers a differentiated approach - combining risk discipline with the flexibility to find uncorrelated sources of alpha.

Portfolio Manager
Fidelity International

Ravin Seeneevassen joined Fidelity in November 2024 and has since become Lead-Portfolio Manager of Fidelity’s Absolute Return Global Fixed Income and Inflation strategies. He is also Co-Portfolio Manager for Fidelity’s Strategic Bond strategies. Ravin joined Fidelity with extensive experience in unconstrained fixed income strategies, having previously been a portfolio manager in Allianz Global Investors’ Macro Unconstrained Fixed Income team.

Sales Associate Director, UK Wholesale
Fidelity International

E: james.trotman@fil.com

T: +44 (0) 7778 756349

Investing in the Energy Transition

Join us for an in-depth discussion on the Guinness Sustainable Energy Fund, designed to invest in companies focused on the generation, storage, efficiency, and consumption of sustainable energy. This includes sectors such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biofuels, and biomass. Guinness believes that over the next two decades, the world will undergo a major transition towards a sustainable energy system, driven by five key factors:

• Population & GDP Growth: Rapid growth is increasing pressure on current energy supplies.

• Climate Change: Reducing carbon emissions through cleaner energy sources will be a global priority.

• Pollution: Governments are pushing for cleaner energy to reduce air pollution in cities.

• Energy Security: Distributed sustainable energy can reduce reliance on energy imports, enhancing energy security.

• Economics: Sustainable energy sources are becoming more cost-effective than traditional options.

Portfolio Manager, Specialist Team
Guinness Global Investors

Jonathan has 20 years’ experience in the energy sector. He was a Shell drilling engineer in the Dutch North Sea and worked as an energy consultant with Wood Mackenzie before becoming co-head of Goldman Sachs energy equity research in 2000. He joined Investec as co-manager on the Investec Global Energy Fund in 2008 where he helped grow the energy franchise at Investec to a peak of nearly $3.5bn in 2011. Jonathan then joined Mercuria in 2012 to build an equities and fund management business based around the provision of external funds before joining Guinness Global Investors in 2013.

Sales Manager
Guinness Global Investors

E: Rupert.bonsor@guinnessgi.com

Sales Manager
Guinness Global Investors

E: alex.hall@guinnessgi.com

Solving the Core Allocation Challenge: A Systematic Approach to Consistent Outperformance

In an environment of rapid geopolitical shifts coupled with structural market changes such as index concentration, delivering consistent alpha in public equity portfolios has been challenging. This session explores how combining human driven and systematic processes — robust factor research, efficient implementation and risk-controlled portfolio construction — has delivered optimal outcomes while maintaining scalability and cost efficiency for UK wealth managers and DFMs.

Head of Systematic Equities
Keyridge Asset Management

Alan Duffy is the Head of Systematic Investment Strategies at Keyridge Asset Management, where he leads the development and management of the firm’s systematic and quantitative investment strategies. He brings over 20 years of investment experience, having previously worked in the proprietary trading group at Credit Suisse as a Portfolio Manager focusing on arbitrage strategies, and earlier at UBS as an Equity Trader managing both client and proprietary books. His background combines deep quantitative expertise with practical trading experience.

Sales Director - Discretionary
Keyridge Asset Management

T: +44 (0)7824 348925

E: ryan.welch@keyridge.com

Nordea Asset Management BetaPlus: Consistent Alpha in an uncertain world

As the space between active and passive investment options becomes increasingly competitive, factors such as scale, experience and consistency are critical when selecting both an investment solution and its manager. This masterclass explores Nordea’s BetaPlus Enhanced strategies as an active answer to passive investing, examining how a disciplined, quantitative approach—supported by an experienced investment team—can balance the pursuit of excess returns with controlled active risk in core portfolio allocations.

Investment Product Specialist
Nordea Asset Management

Giulia is Investment Specialist at Nordea Asset Management for Multi-Asset solutions since March 2022. She covers the BetaPlus Enhanced strategies that originate from Nordea’s Diversified Equity team, part of the Multi Assets Team.

Sales Manager
Nordea Asset Management

E: dulcinea.grierson@nordea.com

T: 07746356381

Efficiently investing in High Yield to deliver higher performance and greater liquidity

There is a more efficient way to invest in High Yield that does not involve buying high yield bonds. Our aim is to show that with a synthetic approach we can deliver higher returns, greater liquidity, and lower drawdowns than high yield indices, peers and ETFs

Senior Client Portfolio Manager
Pictet Asset Management

Bernard McGrath is a Senior Client Portfolio Manager covering Pictet Asset Management’s high yield franchise

Head of UK Wholesale
Pictet Asset Management

E: dfranklin@pictet.com

T: +44 (0)777 625 4956

Head of UK Advisory
Pictet Asset Management

E: tedmans@pictet.com

T: +44 (0)7515 975 473

Rethinking Emerging Markets: where to focus now

After a strong year, emerging markets remain firmly on investors’ radars. Despite geopolitical uncertainty, the fundamentals continue to be compelling: structural growth, favourable demographics, attractive valuations and rising economic influence. But the debate has shifted from whether to invest in emerging markets to how. In a multipolar world, outcomes increasingly depend on selectivity, disciplined country allocation and understanding shifting global dynamics — from renewed momentum in Latin America to China’s repositioning in Asia and evolving relationships with the US. In this masterclass, we will explore how investors are navigating risk, return and diversification set against a backdrop of a weaker dollar, interest rates at or near their peak, improving fundamentals and low institutional positioning.

Portfolio Manager
Robeco

Richard Briggs is a Portfolio Manager covering Emerging Market Debt and a member of the Global Macro team. He joined Robeco in 2024. Previously, he was a portfolio manager focused on Emerging Market Debt at Candriam. Prior to joining Candriam in 2022, he worked at GAM Investments as a portfolio manager covering EMD and prior to that he led emerging market credit strategy at CreditSights. He joined the industry in 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Economics from the University of Strathclyde and a Master’s in Financial Economics from the University of Glasgow.

Fixed Income Client Portfolio Manager
Robeco

Meena Santhosh is a Fixed Income Client Portfolio Manager. Her focus area is Emerging Market Fixed Income. Prior to joining Robeco in 2021, she was Product Strategist at Blackrock in London, covering the full range of fundamental fixed income benchmark-aware and unconstrained global bond strategies. Meena started her career in the industry in 2011. She holds a Bachelor’s (Hons) in Economics from University College London.

Head of UK Wholesale
Robeco

T: 07827 316526

E: n.keem@robeco.com

Sales Manager
Robeco

T: 07503 63316

E: s.smith@robeco.com

Helping provide resilience and repeatability across markets

The Royal London Global Equity Income Fund seeks to deliver strong results, resilience, and consistent participation in rising markets, while aiming to offer a diversified and increasingly valuable income stream. Discover how our disciplined, repeatable investment process, combined with a pragmatic approach to yield, helps to support the potential for dependable outcomes across a wide range of market environments.

Fund Manager
Royal London Asset Management

Matt Kirby is a Fund Manager at Royal London Asset Management, managing global equity strategies. Matt joined Royal London Asset Management in November 2024, having previously worked at Aviva Investors as co-portfolio manager on the Aviva Investors Global Equity Income Fund, and as an analyst and portfolio manager covering European equities and climate transition strategies. Matt brings experience in global equity income and sustainable investing. Matt holds a BA (Hons) in Finance from the University of Tulsa, the Investment Management Certificate, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Business Development Manager - London
Royal London Asset Management

E: greg.clark@rlam.co.uk

T: 07525478472

Wealth - London Team Lead
Royal London Asset Management

E: adam.vaites@rlam.co.uk

T: 07557 123 169

Why strategic bond funds can navigate all market conditions

In this session we will discuss how the strategic bond sector can help investors navigate all market conditions. He will outline the current state of bond markets and explain why not all bond funds are alike - highlighting the importance of flexibility and deep dive credit research.

Head of Fixed Income
TrinityBridge

Andrew joined Trinity Bridge (formerly Close Brothers Asset Management) in 2016. He is the co-manager of the Sustainable Select Fixed Income Fund and chair of the fixed income committee. He started his career in 2008 and has always worked in fixed income as an analyst or portfolio manager. Before joining Close Brothers, he spent four years at Vanguard AM. He was also a portfolio manager at Phoenix Group and an analyst at Moody’s and Barclays Capital.

Business Development Director
TrinityBridge

T: +44 (0) 791 700 8680

E: Kurt.Davidson@trinitybridge.com 

Business Development Director
TrinityBridge

T: +44 (0) 7536 046955

E: Sebastian.Ladimeji@trinitybridge.com 

Strat Bond Done Right: Navigating Global Bonds with Precision

Strategic bond funds have too often failed investors when resilience mattered most. In this session, we explore how to deliver truly risk controlled returns and what an industry leading active edge looks like. Drawing on insights from Vanguard, home to a $2.6 trillion global fixed income platform, including more than $500 billion in active bond strategies, and the world’s largest fixed income fund.

Head of International Rates
Vanguard

Ales Koutny is the Portfolio Manager of Vanguard’s Global Strategic and Global Core Bond Funds. As Head of International Rates at Vanguard, he is responsible for the portfolio management of global aggregate, governments and foreign exchange strategies. He joined the company in 2023. Prior to joining Vanguard, Mr. Koutny held positions at Janus Henderson and J.P. Morgan.

National Active Investment Specialist
Vanguard

E: perry.marsden@vanguard.co.uk

T: +44 (0) 7525478472

Business Development Manager
Vanguard

E: scott.atkinson@vanguard.co.uk

T: +44 (0)7545776642

The reemergence of Emerging Market Equities: A different perspective on emerging markets within a diversified global portfolio

Emerging Markets look very different from the previous cycle. Previously, GDP growth was offset by shareholder dilution. Today, EM corporates are more disciplined, with rising buybacks and stronger EPS growth. EM economies are more resilient, less tied to DM policy, and benefiting from de-dollarisation. Is this reflected in valuations, and how should investors consider EM allocations in a global equity portfolio?

Client Portfolio Manager
Vontobel Asset management

Anthony Corrigan joined Vontobel in September 2021. He is Client Portfolio Manager within the Conviction Equities Boutique, covering the mtx strategies (Global EM, Asia ex-Japan, and EM ex-China), as well as Global Environmental Change. Before joining Vontobel, Anthony worked at Research Affiliates in London, and prior to this, he spent 14 years at Mercer, working in consulting and research-focused roles.

Executive Director
Vontobel Asset Management

E: hubert.defroberville@vontobel.com

T: +44 (0)7502 456 109

Director, Relationship Manager UK & Ireland
Vontobel Asset Management

E: ella.smith@vontobel.com

T: +44 (0)7810 025 988

Flexible bond investing: beyond the yield

With rate volatility and tight credit valuations, being nimble in fixed income is essential. Yet many strategic or flexible bond strategies face a persistent challenge: the pursuit of yield and return often leads to overexposure to lower-quality credit, or more specialised and illiquid sectors, increasing risk and volatility without being able to capitalize on market dislocations. What if there’s another way?

This session explores a differentiated approach to credit investing that goes beyond traditional yield harvesting. In fixed income, return is driven by both yield and price movement. By focusing on bonds with asymmetric price return profiles — where the potential for price appreciation is positively skewed — investors can build portfolios that aim to deliver robust total return without stretching down the quality spectrum or reaching into unconventional sectors. Join us to rethink fixed income in a way that’s differentiated, dynamic, and designed for today’s market conditions.

Investment Director
Wellington Management
Business Development, Global Wealth Management
Wellington Management

E: akay@wellington.com

T: +44 (0)2071266272

Business Development, Global Wealth Management
Wellington Management

E: fvoorspuy@wellington.com

T: +44 (0)2071266333

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