Agenda

Drawing on global fixed income and credit strategy perspectives, this keynote will explore where we are in the current cycle; and how rates, credit dispersion, refinancing risk, private credit competition, and regulatory friction are reshaping risk, capital allocation, and portfolio construction across European credit markets; and what macro scenarios matter most for CLO performance in 2026 and beyond. 

• Against the backdrop of heightened spreads, market competition and low volatility - how is the European market adjusting to elevated attention as a diversification opportunity?
• Consider which of these drivers most concerns investors - pricing of risk, arbitrage pressure or regulatory constraints?
• Democratization of credit (and the growth of ETFs)
• What can Europe’s regulators do to create greater opportunities for investors?

• How can the market navigate any continued barriers to issuance and a more challenging regulatory environment?
• As default rates rise to historical norms, how will managers adjust their portfolio structures?
• Which European jurisdictions are proving providing the greatest opportunities?
• What can managers expect from market shifts through 2026?

• Examining infrastructure, project finance, and CRE-adjacent collateral and structural characteristics. What other emerging collateral types are out there?
• How are rating agencies and investors assessing these assets? 
• Will 2026 see growth in these asset types, or will ‘innovation’ remain incremental, rather than transformational?

• How are enhanced data and analytics, and evolving ratings methodologies, shaping credit assessments, due diligence, and portfolio monitoring?
• How can AI integration genuinely help transparency and decision-making in ratings methodologies and investor due diligence?
• Are current ratings methodologies, across the capital structure, still fit for purpose?

• How do investors assess European manager's product selection?
• What is the potential for equity and mezzanine products among investors?
• What are US investors looking for with European CLO products?

• Examining how changes to risk retention, capital treatment, and Solvency II are influencing CLO structuring, investor demand, and treatment of senior tranches across balance sheets.

• Can debtors avoid the emergence of credit-on-creditor violence?
• Are liquidity coverage requirements a hindrance or benefit to the EU market?
• What can Europe learn from the US experience with LMES?
• Which legal considerations are most prevalent for CLO investors and managers?

• How do loan size, covenant structures, sponsor behaviour, and liquidity in MM compare to BSL? And does this change structuring, portfolio construction, and risk management?
• How are rating agencies underwriting MM CLOs vs BSL, and which structural features are more susceptible to stresses?
• What are the real constraints on scaling MM CLOs in Europe? Warehousing, asset granularity, investor appetite, balance-sheet usage?
• In a tighter arbitrage environment, how resilient are MM equity returns, and where does relative value genuinely exist across the capital stack?

• How has secondary liquidity in European CLO tranches evolved, and where do bid/offer dynamics break down under market stress?
• What role are CLO ETFs playing in shaping secondary demand, price discovery, and volatility? How does this differ, and what lessons can be learned, from the U.S.?
• What are the opportunities arising from growing retail-isation of CLO ETFs? How can these structures help accelerate market growth, and what should managers be considering when looking to develop an ETF?
• How should managers and investors think about mark-to-market risk, forced selling, and liquidity assumptions across tranches?

• What are investors seeking from managers in a more volatile global market?
• Will the price advantage of shifting resources to European shores remain?
• Which market impediments can be overcome in the short-term? And which might remain over the longer term?