2008 Conference Agenda
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DAY ONE -
Thursday, November 20, 2008
8:30 AM — Registration / Breakfast
9:00 AM — Opening Remarks
Peter R. Porrino
Global Director of Insurance Industry Services
Ernst & Young LLP
9:15 AM - Capital Management : Strong Capital Position and Efficient Capital Allocation
In recent years, companies enhanced their strong capital position thanks to strong profitability in the insurance business and capital adequacy measures within capital management. With the economic tide turning what does a strong capital market mean in a financially stressed market? What should we expect this time around?
Pierre L. Ozendo
Member of the Executive Board
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Swiss Re America Corporation
Head of Americas Division
10:00 AM - Strategies for Achieving Strong Financial Performance in a Difficult Market
The lingering soft market, plummeting investment income and higher catastrophe losses are pressuring the earnings of major U.S. property-casualty insurers, sending many bottom lines into the red. But savvy leaders are maneuvering to position themselves to capitalize on an expected rebound in rates next year. Is the soft market really over? What are the biggest threats and opportunities facing U.S.-based insurers? What are the unique advantages and disadvantages to being onshore? Our panel will discuss which strategies onshore-domiciled firms are employing in today’s volatile market to drive results.
Moderator:
Sam Friedman
Editor in Chief
National Underwriter
John Q. Doyle
President & CEO
AIG Commercial Insurance
George Fay
Executive Vice President, Worldwide Property & Casualty
CNA
Stanley A. Galanski
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Navigators Group, Inc.
11:00 AM - Refreshment Break
11:30 AM - Insurance and the Capital Markets: Current and Future Outlook
Despite the impact of the ongoing credit and liquidity crisis to most financial services sectors, insurance and reinsurance companies are well-positioned to sustain reasonably significant property catastrophe losses or other large sequences of non-cat losses while continuing to meet the needs of buyers. With the cost of reinsurance capital in continued decline, insurers should find that reinsurance is now a substantially more accretive form of underwriting capital than it was a year ago.
Bryon G. Ehrhart
President and Chief Executive Officer
Aon Re Global Services
Chief Executive Officer
Aon Capital Markets
12:15 PM — Financial Crisis and the Property-Casualty Insurance Industry: Challenges Amid the Economic Storm
Join Bob Hartwig, renowned economist, as he provides an analysis of the current unprecedented economic upheaval in the US and global financial markets and assesses the impact on the property-casualty insurance industry. Soft pricing, the credit crisis, a weak housing market, rising unemployment and a deepening recession are all factors that are impacting the P/C market. Find out what this means for your organization as you move forward in this challenging environment.
Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., CPCU
President
Insurance Information Institute
1:00 PM - Networking Luncheon
2:00 PM - The Reinsurance Sector – Achieving Profitability
While underwriting profitability has been elusive for our industry, insurers hit the mark more often than reinsurers. In 2006 and 2007, reinsurers finally got it right, attaining new levels of profits (admittedly with help from mother nature). Was this just a moment of brilliance, or have we actually seen the light?
Anthony J. Kuczinski
President and Chief Executive Officer
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
2:45 PM — Afternoon Networking & Refreshments
3:15 PM - Legislative and Security Initiatives
Regulatory developments are driving change within many insurance organizations. We will explore significant state and federal legislative matters affecting the industry including: the current debate over the Federal Government’s role in insurance regulation, reinsurance solvency standards in the global market (including the evolution of U.S. credit for reinsurance rules),
surplus lines insurance regulatory reform, monoline insurers in the aftermath of the housing crisis, long-term alternatives to TRIA, natural catastrophe backstop proposals, National Flood Insurance Program reform, Holocaust claims and offshore reinsurance tax issues.
L. Charles Landgraf
Partner
Dewey & LeBoeuf
Panelists TBA
4:00 PM - Offshore Perspective: Surviving the Soft Market
Like their onshore counterparts, offshore companies are employing a wide array of strategies address the challenges of a soft market. How does their domicile impact the maneuvers they are making around issues of flexibility, focus, maturity, capital reserves, tax structure and infrastructure? What strategies are they implementing to help them in navigating treacherous market conditions? Join speakers representing prominent offshore domiciled organizations as they share their unique viewpoint on current market conditions as well as a vision to what they are doing prepare for the eventual market turn.
Moderator :
Peter R. Porrino
Global Director of Insurance Industry Services
Ernst & Young LLP
H. Elizabeth Mitchell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Platinum Underwriters Reinsurance, Inc.
Robert V. Deutsch
Chief Executive Officer
Ironshore, Inc.
5:30 PM — Cocktail Reception
6:30 PM — Day One Concludes
DAY TWO
FRIDAY , November 21, 2008
8:30 AM — Continental Breakfast
8:50 AM — Opening Remarks
Peter R. Porrino
Global Director of Insurance Industry Services
Ernst & Young LLP
9:00 AM - Fixing the Coastal Insurance Crisis —A Private , Market-Based Approach
Insuring homes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is a serious economic challenge that needs to be addressed. With a significantly increased number of Americans living along those coasts, and the value of all coastal properties from Texas to Maine nearing $9 trillion, financial vulnerability to violent storms has increased dramatically. Jay Fishman will outline the company’s Four Pillars Coastal Plan and discuss how consumers, insurance companies and government leaders can work together to create a stable, market-based insurance system to improve availability and affordability of catastrophic wind coverage for residents in harm’s way.
Jay S. Fishman
Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer
The Travelers Companies, Inc
9:45 AM - Look at the Present and the Future Direction of the Insurance Industry
This keynote session will provide an analysis of the big-picture trends and developments shaping the near-term outlook and long-term future of the P&C insurance market.
Don Bailey
Chief Executive Officer
Willis North America
10:30 AM — Morning Networking & Refreshments
11:00 AM – Special Address
Notes from the front: Musings of a regulator in the midst of a financial crisis
Eric R. Dinallo
NY State Insurance Commissioner
11:45 AM - Year End Wrap up and 2009 Outlook —Where Are We and Where Are We Heading?
The financial and capital markets were in turmoil as we ended the third quarter and entered the fourth, as the subprime mortgage crisis spread to become arguably the greatest challenge to the viability of the financial sector since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The U.S. Government approved the creation of a $700 billion fund to support troubled assets, and instituted a $85 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG. What does the current turmoil mean for property/casualty insurers generally, what will the remainder of the year hold and, most importantly, what is the outlook for 2009 and beyond?
Keith M. Buckley
Group Managing Director, Global Head of Insurance
Fitch Ratings
12:30 PM — Conference Concludes