Moody's Talks - Focus on Finance

Moody’s Ratings Banking team AMD Fadi Massih discusses key highlights from our survey of banks actively engaged with private credit.Speaker: Fadi Massih, Associate Managing Director-Banking at Moody's RatingsHost: Danielle Reed, VP-Senior Research Writer; Michael Porta, VP-Senior Research WriterRelated research: Private Credit – Global: Bank funding of private credit grows rapidly, in step with sector's capital-raising 

Stellar Development Foundation Executive Director and CEO Denelle Dixon explains what the open source blockchain network is doing to make financial services more accessible globally.Speakers: Denelle Dixon, Executive Director and CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation; Farooq Khan, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHost: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated Research:Decentralized Finance and Digital Assets – Global - 2024 Outlook: Digital finance slowly, steadily moves toward interoperability, standardization

We discuss European banks’ ability to withstand a severe commercial real estate downturn, and how current property market weakness in APAC and China affects banks and insurers.Speakers: Kathleen Gamper, AVP-Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Joseph Lin, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Qian Zhu, VP-Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings; Jun Yang, AVP- Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings

We talk to QuantCube Technology co-founder and CEO Thanh-Long Huynh about how machine learning and alternative data combined can identify financial trends far ahead of official data.Speakers: Thanh-Long Huynh, co-founder and CEO of QuantCube Technology; Vincent Gusdorf, AMD, Digital Finance and AI Analytics, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated research:Digital Transformation – Global: Alternative data's timely insights can enhance conventional data, not replace itDigital Transformation – Global: 2024 AI Outlook - Swift progress likely but rapid roll-out will bring risks

Strong prices, tight policy terms and higher investment yields drive a positive outlook for the global reinsurance sector.Speaker: Brandan Holmes, VP – Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated Research:Reinsurance – Global: Outlook shifts to positive as improvement in risk/return dynamics gathers momentum

We talk to Alphaledger co-founder and CEO Manish Dutta about his firm’s quest to rebuild the fixed income market’s financial infrastructure, using blockchain.Speakers: Manish Dutta, co-founder and CEO, Alphaledger; Gregory Sobel, AVP-Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated Research:Local Government – US: Blockchain offers prospects for efficiencies, financial benefits in public finance

Cyber and climate risk are also high on the agenda at Moody’s summer 2024 insurance conferences in New York and London.Speakers: Audio excerpts from Sarah Williams, Chief Risk Officer, Guardian Life; Brandan Holmes, VP  Senior Credit Officer FIG, Moody’s Ratings; Heather Lavallee, CEO, Voya; Joe Brandon, CEO, Allegheny; Sarah Hibler, Associate Managing Director FIG, Moody’s Ratings; Ari Moskowitz, Chief Risk Officer, Everest Group; James Eck, VP Senior Credit Officer FIG, Moody’s Ratings.Hosts: Marc Pinto, MD Financial Institutions FIG, Moody’s Ratings, Myles Neligan – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated Research:Property & Casualty Personal Insurance – US: 2024 outlook changed to stable on rate increases, improved profitabilityProperty & Casualty Insurance – US: Homeowners insurers aim to boost profits as weather-related losses, inflation take tollInsurers’ growing private credit investment brings more benefits than risksCommercial real estate risks still abound for US life insurersLife Insurance – Global: 2024 Outlook - Stable as higher rates offset weaker revenue, rising asset risk 

Matthew White, CEO of Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), explains how the regulator is trying to make it safer for financial institutions to expand into digital finance in the region.Speakers: Matthew White, CEO of VARA; Rajeev Barma, SVP and Head of Strategy, Digital Economy, Moody’s Ratings Host: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated Research:Decentralized Finance and Digital Assets – Global: 2024 Outlook: Digital finance slowly, steadily moves toward interoperability, standardizationDigital Economy – Global: Islamic finance's adoption of blockchain could be beneficial, but faces crucial barriers

Our analysts discuss which segments and loan types pose the largest risks to US banks and life insurers, and zero in on concentration risks in asset portfolios.Speakers: Evelyn Ocas Salazar, AVP-Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Darrell Wheeler, VP-Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s Ratings; Stephen Lynch, VP-Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s Ratings, Hosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings; Michael Porta, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated Research:Banks – US: CRE survey loan-level analysis shows solid underwriting, high concentration riskBanks – US: Retained capital, strong liquidity are key credit buffers for CRE-concentrated banksLife Insurance — US: Commercial real estate risks still abound, especially in the office sector

Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, discusses the use cases of blockchain in global financial institutions, exploring public, private, and public permissioned blockchains. Topics include addressing interoperability challenges with the Canton Network Pilot and transitioning blockchain from investment to real returns for institutions.