The Pensions Asset Allocation Summit

The presentations that follow will examine how different asset classes earn their place in the overall portfolio, and what this implies for how managers position and deliver solutions to UK pension schemes.  Each speaker will make an evidence‑based case for why their asset class deserves a larger or more clearly defined role in future pension portfolios.

Presenters will address:

1. The structural forces shaping the opportunity?
2. How the asset class behaves in a total portfolio context?
3. The key constraints for UK schemes – and what these mean for implementation and governance

Together, these sessions translate high‑level strategy into practical building blocks, showing how asset managers are adapting their offerings to meet the demands of outcome‑driven, total portfolio investing.

• • Presentation 1: Private Credit – Structural Tailwind or Crowded Trade?
    Presented by Peter Drewienkiewicz, Chief Investment Officer, Gallagher
    As banks retreat from traditional lending, both private and listed credit have expanded rapidly, raising questions around sustainability, crowding and risk. Our speaker will examine how higher base rates are reshaping returns across public and private markets, where underwriting discipline is holding or eroding, and how liquidity behaves under stress. They will recommend how investors should position portfolios, manage liquidity and correlation, and maintain discipline as competition across credit markets intensifies.
  • Presentation 2: Infrastructure 2.0 – Digital, Transition & Adaptation
    Presented by James Harraway, Head of Value Creation, GLIL
    Infrastructure is no longer a niche alternative but a core component of long‑term resilience. This session outlines the next generation of investable infrastructure: digital networks, energy transition assets, water systems, and climate‑adaptation projects. Our speaker will show how these assets behave under whole‑portfolio thinking, why they offer inflation‑linked cashflows in a world of volatile rates, and how UK schemes can access them efficiently through pooled vehicles and co‑investment platforms.
  • Presentation 3: Hedge Fund Strategies – Diversification When it’s needed most
    Presented by Kier Boley, CIO Alternative Investment Solutions, UBP
    As cross-asset correlations rise and macro conditions turn volatile, liquid hedge fund strategies are re-emerging as sources of diversification and resilient returns. This session highlights where repeatable alpha and uncorrelated performance remain across macro, trend-following, relative-value and event-driven approaches, and how they behave during quite drawdowns, inflation shocks and stress and shifting rate regimes. Our speaker will outline evidence for return persistence, their role in stregthening portfolio resilience, and the governance issues that matter around transparency, liquidity and manager oversight. 
  • Presentation 4: Active Equity in the Post‑Index Era
    Presented by Diana Philip, Investment Specialist Director, Baillie Gifford
    After a decade of passive dominance, structural shifts such as market concentration, geopolitical fragmentation, and the rise of intangible‑driven business models are challenging the logic of broad indexation. Our speaker will argue that active equity selection may regain importance as dispersion rises and benchmarks become less representative of economic reality. She will outline where active managers can add value, how AI‑enabled research is changing the game, and what this means for equity allocations in UK DB, DC and LGPS portfolios.
  • Presentation 5: Private Markets in DC – The Case for a Larger Strategic Role
    Presented by Liz Fernando, Chief Investment Officer, NEST
    Drawing on NEST’s long experience of implementing a significant private assets programme within a fee‑capped default strategy, our speaker will set out the evidence for why these assets can enhance resilience, diversification and long‑term returns. She will examine how private markets behave in a total portfolio approach, and how NEST has navigated constraints such as the fee cap, the decision to avoid performance fees and carry, and the operational challenge of deploying continuously strong net inflows. The presentation will highlight what this means for future DC allocations as schemes seek scalable, governable access to long‑term, inflation‑linked and less correlated return drivers.