Plenary Program

Friday 7 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 1 - The Australian National Outlook 2019: business-led scenarios of Australia’s long-term future

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Presenter Dr Tim Baynes – Sustainable Consumption and Production Team Leader, CSIRO
Chaired by Nicolette Rubinsztein Non-Executive Director, Zurich

Doctor Tim Baynes, an expert in urban sustainability and industrial ecology from the CSIRO, will talk about the Australian National Outlook project, an examination of Australia’s long-term future through modelling and analyses across industry, energy, cities, land use, and culture. .

Wednesday 12 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 2 - COVID-19 - Understanding the Science, the Epidemiology and How to Make Sense of it All

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Presenter: Professor Peter Doherty
Chair: Jennifer Lang – Convenor, COVID-19 Working Group

Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Doherty will share his insights on COVID-19 - the Sars Cov2 virus, the latest in the search for the vaccine and the role the Doherty centre is playing in the Australian response. Professor Doherty won his Nobel prize for his work on the role of T-cells in the immune system and is still active in research on immunity to influenza. He is passionate about promoting an evidence-based view of reality, his most recent book The Knowledge Wars is a “warts and all” view of science for non-scientists, even for people who don’t like science. Jennifer Lang, Convenor of the Institute’s COVID-19 Working Group will host the session and facilitate Q&A from the audience. Professor Doherty is donating 75% of his speaker fee to COVID-19 research.

Friday 14 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 3 - Red Hot Issue: Climate Change and the Financial Sector - Part 1: Frameworks

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Jennifer Lang - Non-Executive Director and Actuary, Convenor of the COVID-19 Working Group
Sharanjit Paddam, Head of ESG Risk, Group Risk - QBE

Peter Kohlhagen – General Manger, Advice and Approvals - APRA
Chair: Naomi Edwards – Non-Executive Director

This session addresses the ever-increasing importance of climate change disclosure and measurement. It looks at important initiatives including:

  • APRA’s prudential guidance note on climate change and vulnerability testing;
  • the Institute’s Information Note on climate change for Appointed Actuaries; and
  • how Australian insurers, banks and asset owners can implement the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate Disclosure (TFCD) recommendations.

Wednesday 19 August

1:00 - 2:00

Plenary 4 - Disrupting Distribution

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Claire Wivell Plater – Chairman, The Fold
John de Zwart – CEO, NEOS Life 
Chair: Trevor Matthews - Chairman and Non-Executive Director

Around the world, financial services distribution is being disrupted by regulatory pressure, changing customer expectations and the continuous emergence of new technology. In this session, three financial services professionals, with real skin in the game when it comes to distribution disruption, will debate how financial services distribution must evolve. Bernie Ripoli runs a Netflix type subscription distribution model. John de Zwart is developing a new 'digital’ life insurer. Claire Wivell Plater chairs a legal firm focused on financial services and is a specialist in financial services regulation.

Friday 21 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 5 - Red Hot Issue: Climate Change and the Financial Sector - Part 2: Disclosure In Practice

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Kate Lyons – Executive Manager, Reinsurance & ESG Strategy – Suncorp
Brooke Pettit – Executive Manager, Responsible Business, IAG

Chair; Sharanjit Paddam – Head of ESG Risk, Group Risk - QBE

Year on year, the physical effects of climate change - and the political debates surrounding it – become more of an issue. Financial services is not immune to this change – indeed in some ways it is leading the debate. This session focuses on the experiences, challenges and lessons learned by insurers reporting climate-related risks under the Financial Stability Board’s disclosure standard and what they are doing to manage climate-related risks.

Monday 24 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 6 - Losing Interest? What a Low Interest Rate Economy Means For Products, People and Investment

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Hugh Miller – Principal, Taylor Fry
Sean Carmody – Executive General Manger, Risk and Data Analytics Division, APRA
Chair: Melinda Howes, General Manager, Superannuation - BT

The COVID-19 crisis has pushed already low interest rates to a new floor and now is the time to be preparing our business, NFP and government clients for this environment. As skilled risk assessors, actuaries need to assess how a low-rate world affects products, retirees and investments. In this session Hugh Miller and Sean Carmody examine varying perspectives on the impact of low interest rates both nationally and internationally.

WEDNESday 26 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 7 - How Do We Balance Fairness For the Individual Customer With Fairness For All Customers?

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Dr June Smith – Deputy Chief Ombudsman, AFCA
Tracy Green – Acting CEO, RACQ 
Chair: Elayne Grace – CEO, Actuaries Institute

How can businesses earn a ‘fair profit’ and customer trust? Can they meet community expectations and achieve financial sustainability?  How can they reward their customers and their shareholders? In this session, our panelists debate these issues and ask the question – will the businesses that can manage this balance be the future leaders in our industry?

friday 28 August

12:00 - 1:00

Plenary 8 -Rebuilding Behaviour, Rebuilding Trust

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Anne O’Driscoll – Non-Executive Director (Sharing her own views)
Karen Chester – Deputy Chair, ASIC
Chair: Estelle Pearson – Principal and Managing Director, Finity 

The financial services sector was already under pressure from changing customer expectations, the Hayne Royal Commission and heightened risk evaluation by business.  Now COVID-19 has added another stressor as financial institutions work to rebuild community trust.  In this plenary session our speakers examine how this will play out by looking at how the Government and regulators are responding to the Royal Commission and the more recent challenges from COVID-19. What does this all mean for financial services and the role of actuaries?