Moody's Talks - Focus on Finance

Transferring credit risk via these mostly fully collateralized transactions moderately reduces capital needs, though the deals are opaque and there is some concentration risk. Speakers: Farooq Khan, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Warren Kornfeld, Senior Vice President, Moody’s RatingsHost: Danielle Reed, VP-Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings Related Research: Banks – United States of America: Credit risk transfer use should remain modest, but investor concentration is high 6 May 2025Banks – Europe: SRTs to support bank capital despite concentration and regulatory scrutiny 6 May 2025

We talk with Sabih Behzad of Deutsche Bank about how the bank is using blockchain technology and what’s ahead for digital transformation of the broader banking industry. Speakers: Sabih Behzad, Head of Digital Assets and Currencies Transformation, Deutsche Bank; Cristiano Ventricelli, VP - Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings Host: Danielle Reed, VP - Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings Related Research:Digital Economy – Cross Region: Tokenization could boost liquidity for alternative assetsDigital Economy – Cross Region: Digital custodians gain traction, despite risks

Credit conditions are holding steady across most banking systems globally despite the potential for trade disputes to weaken GDP and business investment, hurting borrower health and profitability. Host: Danielle Reed, VP - Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings Guests: Effie Tsotsani, VP - Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; David Tao, AVP - Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; C.J. Wong, AVP - Analyst, Moody’s Ratings

We talk to Animoca Brands about digital innovation, stablecoins, and how collaborations among institutions, companies and regulators are pushing Web3 -- the decentralized internet -- into the mainstream. Speakers: Evan Auyang, Group President - Animoca Brands; Cristiano Ventricelli - VP - Senior Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHost: Danielle Reed, VP - Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings

We talk to Sandip Wadje of BNP Paribas about the risks of digital technology, and how banks are balancing innovation and digital transformation against their security and compliance needs.Speakers: Sandip Wadje, Managing Director – Global Head of Emerging Technology Risks, BNP Paribas; Lucas Viegas, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHost: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings

We discuss the outlooks for digital finance and cybersecurity. Tokenization and digital assets will gain traction. Meanwhile, cyberattacks will likely be more frequent and more personalized.Speakers: Cristiano Ventricelli, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Leroy Terrelonge, VP-Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings; Carolyn Henson, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated research:Digital Economy – Global: 2025 Outlook – Institutions to edge further into digital finance, focus on risk mitigationCybersecurity – Global: 2025 Outlook - Credit risk set to rise as cyber attackers target larger companies

Solid GDP growth in most markets and low unemployment will support finance companies’ profitability and ease asset risks. Moderating inflation will improve most companies’ ability to issue debt.Speaker: Bruno Baretta, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHost: Michael Porta, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated research:Finance Companies — Global: 2025 Outlook – Stable with solid economic activity and easing inflation in most markets

Higher interest rates and a favorable macroeconomic environment are among the factors supporting credit strength for insurers worldwide.Speakers: Vincent Del Gatto, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Will Keen-Tomlinson, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings; Myles Neligan, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s RatingsRelated research:Life Insurance – Global: 2025 Outlook – Stable on largely favorable macroeconomic conditions, strong capitalProperty & Casualty Insurance – Global: 2025 Outlook - changed to stable as price increases offset rising claims costs

Analysts from Moody's Ratings discuss key outlook drivers including slower economic growth, low interest rates, weak credit demand and ongoing effects of distress in the property sector. Speakers: Kelly Chen, VP-Senior Analyst, Moody’s Ratings; Frank Yuen, VP-Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s RatingsHosts: Danielle Reed, VP – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings; Simin Ngai, AVP-Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings Related content: Financial Institutions – China: 2025 Outlook - Negative on profitability pressures and elevated asset risks

We discuss what’s behind our shift to a stable outlook for banking globally in 2025 from our negative outlook in 2024, and unpack some regional differences.Speakers: David Yin, VP-Sr Credit Officer at Moody's Ratings; Maria Cabanyes, Senior Vice President at Moody's Ratings; David Tao, AVP-Analyst at Moody's RatingsHost: Jun Yang, AVP-Research Writer at Moody's RatingsRelated research:Banks – Global: 2025 Outlook - Improves to stable, underpinned by stabilizing economic growth

Malik Faizullah of Moody’s Ratings talks to Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov about technology that makes blockchains more connected and compatible, paving the way for new digital finance use cases.Speakers: Malik Faizullah, VP Mgr-Software Engineering at Moody's Ratings; Sergey Nazarov, Chainlink co-founderHost: Danielle Reed, VP-Senior Research Writer

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