Navigating Geopolitical Headwinds: Resilience and Opportunities in Australian Banking & Finance

Alison Murray is General Manager, Investment Management at AIA Australia, a member of the pan-Asian life insurance company, AIA Group Ltd listed in Hong Kong.

In this role she is responsible for the management of the life insurance asset portfolios of both AIA Australia and New Zealand businesses.  This involves setting investment strategy & policy, asset allocation, tactical positioning and ALM.  In addition to AIA’s directly managed assets, she has oversight responsibility for externally managed strategies. 

Alison started her career with AIA Australia as Fixed Income Portfolio Manager in 2014, moving into a leadership role in 2016.  Prior to joining AIA Australia, Alison had extensive experience in credit research at Alliance Bernstein (Australia) and Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong). Prior to that she was Director Financial Institutions Ratings at Standard & Poor’s. Alison holds a Bachelor of Economics (Monash University), Graduate Diploma in Banking & Finance (Monash University), and Masters Applied Finance (Macquarie University). She is also a Graduate of the Australia Institute of Company Directors.   

Anthony Walker is a Director and Lead Analyst for S&P Global Ratings’  Sovereign & International Public Finance ratings group in Asia-Pacific.  Based in Melbourne, Anthony is responsible for ratings on sovereigns, state and local governments, and other public entities including universities in the Australia-Pacific region.

Anthony joined S&P Global Ratings in February 2012 from the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury, where he specialised in wholesale funding markets and superannuation policy.

In addition, he previously worked in the Financial Management Group of the Commonwealth Department of Finance.Anthony holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from Monash University in Melbourne, and a Masters of Financial Management from the Australian National University in Canberra.

Parvathy Iyer is a Managing Director in the Corporate & Infrastructure Ratings group at S&P Global Ratings Services. Based in Melbourne, Parvathy is the Sector Lead for the Pacific Infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand. The infrastructure team covers airports, ports, toll roads, rail roads, regulated and unregulated utilities (electricity, gas and water), and project finance transactions.

Parvathy has extensive experience in public private partnership (PPP) transactions in the market. Parvathy also has significant knowledge of the Asian utilities and transportation sectors. During her tenure with S&P, Parvathy has also worked across some corporate sectors.

Her prior experience includes roles as a commercial lending analyst, project management, and as an electrical design engineer.

Parvathy holds a master’s in business administration degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (India) and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Delhi University

Gavin Gunning is Managing Director, and Asia-Pacific Sector Lead for the Financial Institutions (FI) Ratings Practice. Gavin’s coverage currently is principally banks, NBFIs, and alternative investment funds.

Gavin is Chair of the Asia-Pacific council for analytical oversight and  consistency for FI ratings; and is a current member and former co-chair of the  global equivalent of this forum. Gavin represents Asia-Pacific on FI research, hybrid capital, banking and financial services regulation, governance, funds  and criteria topics; and is the FI representative on the Asia-Pacific credit  conditions committee and ratings research group.

Gavin has extensive experience and held prior senior analytical roles within  S&P Global’s FI, NBFI, funds, insurance, corporate, and infrastructure ratings  practices; done secondments as head of Asia-Pacific credit research and in  S&P Global’s risk consulting practice; and has previous experience in ratings  criteria development and methodologies.

Before joining S&P, Gavin spent nine years in the Australian banking sector,  in treasury and financial markets, group strategy, and commercial roles.

Gavin holds a Master of Applied Finance degree from Macquarie University  and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from The University of Queensland; and  is an Australian Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) and a Fellow of  FINSIA. Gavin is a licensed representative of S&P Global Ratings in Hong  Kong and Singapore

Nick Wade is Director, Credit – Banks & Sovereigns at NAB where he specializes in analysing bank strength, sovereign risk, geopolitical risk and macro‑credit trends. Nick brings his extensive experience in credit analytics, research, stress testing and portfolio management to the panel with a particular eye for financial institution and sovereign risk. He regularly contributes personal insights on banking sector resilience and systemic risk to global forums.