FIS Oxford 2025

Europe stands at a pivotal juncture, grappling with a complex confluence of historical legacies, geopolitical shifts, and urgent economic imperatives. This opening session will provide a critical macro overview of Europe's past, present, and projected future, and address the implications for asset owners.

Upcoming reforms, structural changes, and anticipated investments are expected to foster economic activity across Europe. The region stands at a defining moment, navigating a new defence paradigm and a fiscal push in Germany aimed at addressing the shortcomings identified in Mario Draghi’s report to enhance productivity and innovation. This session explores whether ongoing changes are enough to create a global euro moment and what the opportunities – and risks – are for investors.

The tailwinds of the AI theme have benefited the Mag 7 at a time when US exceptionalism rules. This session looks at whether the dominance of the Mag 7 will continue, where investors should look for diversification, and where other opportunities may lie.

In an increasingly fractured geopolitical environment, Europe faces both a competitiveness challenge and an unprecedented opportunity. Private capital could be at the heart of its revival – financing critical priorities in energy transition, infrastructure renewal, digitisation, and defence. This will demand not only capital, but the kind of vision and governance that withstands volatility and aligns with long-term structural goals. This session will examine the tenets of good leadership during uncertain times and how investors can work together to capture opportunities, navigate tariff-sensitive sectors, and balance liquidity constraints in private assets to potentially transform Europe from a perceived risk to a renewed engine of returns.

The Trump administration’s America First trade policies redefined the global investment landscape in the first half of the year. But investors still face significant uncertainty with portfolios set to be tested in an environment of volatility. This session will examine the long-term implications for growth, inflation and market liquidity, and how investors can build more resilient portfolios that preserve flexibility and the ability to capitalise on opportunities across both public and private markets.

For decades, the US has been the undisputed epicentre of global investing, delivering scale, liquidity, and innovation. But cracks are showing. Geopolitical frictions, shifting policy landscapes, and late-cycle macro risks are prompting asset owners to question such a concentrated exposure to a single market. Meanwhile, Europe is positioning for a renaissance, with potential reforms set to deepen capital markets. This panel will delve into the way asset owners are positioning their portfolios against this backdrop while managing the risks of moving away from the US.

Includes table discussion

Private equity has long thrived in a landscape defined by opacity and bespoke arrangements. This keynote will trace the evolution of private equity, highlighting the persistent misalignment of fee structures and incentives between GPs and LPs, and the way that AI is set to redefine this relationship by integrating qualitative and quantitative dimensions into a cohesive decision framework.

A number of seismic shifts in industry dynamics have created a more competitive environment in private assets where collaboration and partnership are key. This session examines the coming of age of the private assets industry and how asset managers need to better meet the needs of their clients.

Includes table discussion

This session will explore the endowment's strategic rationale for allocating to venture capital, its approach to manager selection, and how it assesses and manages the inherent risks associated with early-stage investments. The session will also touch on the broader implications of private market allocations for large, long-term investors.

As demographic shifts and market volatility challenge traditional retirement frameworks, how are leading pension systems innovating to ensure long-term adequacy and sustainability? This session brings together leaders working under three different global systems to debate the future of retirement security. We explore the evolution towards defined contribution, the role of state-run systems in driving efficiency, and how asset owners are adapting their solutions to meet the needs of an ageing population.

The economy is a complex, dynamic, open and non-linear system, and has more in common with an ecosystem than with the mechanistic systems the neoclassists modelled their theories on. This change in viewpoint allows markets to move from allocative efficiency to effectiveness in promoting creativity and thus innovation. A reorientation to seeing businesses as society’s problemsolvers rather than simply as vehicles for creating shareholder returns would provide a better description of what businesses actually do, and it could also shift incentives back towards long term investment. 

This session with the head of Europe’s largest pension fund, and one of the biggest investors in the world, will discuss how it manages investments through a focus on aspects such as solidarity between generations, sustainability, values, diversity, the climate, and digitalisation.

The geopolitical landscape has fundamentally shifted as conflict continues to escalate across Europe and as the Trump administration emphasises a renewed focus on national defence and a potentially more assertive foreign policy. NATO leaders are now targeting defence spending of up to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, setting up a potential super-cycle for the sector. But this new reality presents a stark challenge to institutional investors' traditional ESG frameworks. What was once a straightforward exclusion has become a complex debate about sovereignty, security, and fiduciary duty. Can potentially high-returning investments in defence be justified under a sustainable mandate that revolves around the protection of democratic societies or are these two domains fundamentally irreconcilable?

Includes table discussion

Asset owners are facing a complex and dynamic investment landscape characterised by persistent volatility and unprecedented technological shifts. This panel of investors will unpack the macro forces that are redefining the foundations of portfolios.

Includes table discussion

The investment industry stands on the brink of a digital inflection point. From tokenised assets and distributed ledger infrastructure to generative AI and autonomous agents, the transformation of the industry is accelerating. This panel will explore how the convergence of blockchain, data analytics, cloud computing, and AI could fundamentally reshape the portfolios that chief investment officers build including an example of how one asset owner has incorporated cryptocurrencies into its portfolio.

This session will deep dive into the critical discipline of portfolio completion, exploring advanced strategies designed to refine exposures, enhance risk-adjusted returns, and ensure precise alignment with asset owners’ long-term objectives. It will also explore the evolving role of AI and advanced data analytics to empower these strategies.

Artificial intelligence is changing how investment organisations access and leverage technology, liberating data from disparate systems and enabling richer scenario analysis. It is changing the way asset owners process information and automate decision-making, which is requiring more rigorous governance frameworks. This session will delve into the latest ways that asset owners are using AI to create more resilient portfolios in an era of rising geopolitical complexity.

With geopolitical tensions running high, and the world becoming more dependent on technology and AI, the threat of global cyber catastrophe and attacks on critical infrastructure has come more into focus. This discussion with the former founding chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, examines the important shifts that are occurring and the outlook and impact of potential cyber threats.

This interactive session with the world’s most prestigious debating society, The Oxford Union, showcases the importance of discussing complex topics as an essential element of any free society.