Thursday, 17 December 2020, 10:00−11:00 (UTC/GMT+1 or CET)

Language: Arabic

Webinar organised in collaboration with the ISSA Liaison Office for Arab countries

The COVID-19 crisis is heavily affecting economic activity and financial markets. While global stock markets have recovered after a sharp fall at the onset of the crisis, changes in interest rates, currency fluctuations and generalized uncertainty regarding the development of the pandemic continue to disrupt investment policies and strategies. In addition to the need to revise investment strategies, the surge in benefit demand and drop in contribution income has had a significant impact on asset-liability management approaches adopted by social security institutions. Finally, the crisis is likely to affect the longer-term financial sustainability of schemes where social security reserve funds could be called upon to cover some of the costs of crisis responses.

In this context, the ISSA webinar will review short-term responses to the crisis by social security institutions in Arab countries, and discuss its longer-term implications on the investment of social security funds.

Speakers

	Bader Al-Kandari, Chief Investment Officer, The Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS), Kuwait
	Megren Al-Dalbahi, Head, Risk and Performance Department, Public Pension Agency (PPA), Saudi Arabia

The webinar will tackle the following questions:

• How has the COVID-19 crisis affected social security funds’ investments and the related investment strategies?
• What kind of measures have investment managers of social security funds taken to respond to the crisis?
• To what extent had risk management plans been elaborated before the onset of the crisis and has this helped to cushion its impact?
• How are short-term and longer-term investment approaches being adapted in the context of continued uncertainty as regards the pandemic?
• What are the main lessons learned for investment management in terms of crisis preparedness and responses?

Agenda

• Opening by Marcelo Abi-Ramia Caetano, ISSA Secretary General
• Technical introduction by the ISSA
• Country experience of PIFSS, Kuwait
• Country experience of PPA, Saudi Arabia
• Q&A – Discussion
• Conclusions

Practical information

The webinar is open to delegates of ISSA member organizations and invited institutions without registration fees.