AltamarCAM held the third edition of its working sessions on the insurance sector (“AltamarCAM Insurance Summit 2025”) which has welcomed representatives from 25 Spanish, German, Swedish and Latin American insurance companies.
Pilar Junco, Paloma Ybarra, Noemi García and Alexander Duckwitz, partners at AltamarCAM, were responsible for opening and moderating the event, which took place in Madrid on 13 and 14 March. The summit brought together key industry players to analyse the challenges and latest trends shaping the insurance sector.
Pedro Méndez de Vigo, General of the Spanish Army and strategic consultant, spoke about geopolitical trends in the 21st century, reviewing their recent history in relation to the United States, Russia, China and Europe, as a background to the situation in which we currently find ourselves.
Neil Moge, Global Co-Head of Insurance Portfolio Management at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), and expert in fixed income and liquidity solutions, together with Arnaud Porchet, International Head of Insurance Strategy at the same firm, commented on the current macroeconomic situation, maintaining a positive tone, especially in the short term, due to solid fundamental indicators, and highlighted the uncertainty for the medium and long term, mainly due to factors such as geographical location, regulation and government fiscal deficit among others. They also summarized the results of the GS survey on investment trends of insurer companies, and more specifically with regard to private assets
Next, Thorsten Heymann, Partner at Deloitte, shared his insights on the outlook for the asset management sector and the implications for asset owners. He addressed trends such as industry consolidation, margin compression, ESG factors in different regions, the growing importance of retail offerings and the practical application of AI in the industry.
Pilar Junco, Managing Partner at AltamarCAM, then moderated a panel discussion with Ingrid Albinsson, Board Member of PRI Pensionsgaranti, and Inés Andrade, Partner at AltamarCAM and Board Member of Vidrala and Técnicas Reunidas. The discussion focused on the transformation of corporate boards, particularly in insurance companies, with an emphasis on innovation, diversity and corporate culture. They explored the importance of attracting talent to boards and the improvements this brings, with concrete examples.
The afternoon session began with a panel discussion on trends in life savings insurance products, moderated by Miguel Zurita, CIO of AltamarCAM. Panelists included Javier Lendines, General Manager of Mapfre AM, and Agustín Bircher, Chief Investment Officer of Santa Lucía Seguros. They discussed recent changes in their investment policies and product offerings, highlighting key factors such as population ageing, banking disintermediation, infrastructure needs and the role of technology in portfolio design. They also pointed out that the current interest rate environment could favour insurance companies investing in private assets.
The next presentation was delivered by Armando Martínez Polo, Partner in the Artificial Intelligence practice at PWC, who explained how companies can manage artificial intelligence effectively. He outlined the key aspects of successful AI implementation, the tangible benefits it can bring and the lessons learned so far. He also provided specific examples of AI applications in the insurance sector and the current state of AI regulation.
The event also featured an interview with Ignacio Garralda, Executive Chairman and CEO of Grupo Mutua, conducted by Claudio Aguirre, co-founder and Executive Chairman of AltamarCAM, on the topic of transformational management. Garralda shared insights from his experience in leading the transformation of Mutua Madrileña, explained the rationale behind the corporate transactions undertaken by the group in recent years and offered his perspective on the future evolution of the insurance sector in terms of products and consolidation trends.
The second day began with a session in which José Luis Molina, co-founder and Global CEO of AltamarCAM, interviewed Alexander de Mol, Partner at Bain & Company. De Mol discussed the recent evolution and future of the private markets, covering topics such as the gradual recovery of divestment activity, the main sources of value creation in recent years, and investor appetite for asset managers with a consistent track record of generating alpha. Looking to the future, the discussion touched on industry consolidation, the convergence between traditional asset managers and private assets firms, and different ways of accessing the retail market.
Finally, Carlos Matilla, CEO of ioBuilders, explored the role of tokenisation in the future of financial markets. He provided a concise overview of the latest advances in this technology and practical examples of its application in the asset management industry.
