Hesham Zakai
Hesham Zakai
Speaker
Managing Director

Exile Group

United Kingdom

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Exile Stage

Opening Video & Welcome Remarks: The Exile Perspective

Hesham Zakai
Managing Director,
Exile Group

Set the scene with an Exile Intelligence and data-driven look at the forces reshaping export, project, and development finance over the medium to long term. This session provides a concise trends analysis covering geopolitical fragmentation, rising defence and security priorities, and the restructuring of supply chains as governments and corporates shift from globalisation to de-risking and strategic diversification. It highlights the accelerating demands of the energy transition, the intensifying competition for critical minerals, grid capacity, storage, and digital infrastructure, and the persistent tension between long-term climate ambition and near-term energy security.

Exile Stage

Keynote Panel: The ECA CEO Outlook — Mandates, Markets, and the New Strategic Landscape

Edna Schöne
CEO of ECA Business,
Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft
Tim Reid
Chief Executive,
UK Export Finance
John Hopkins
CEO,
Export Finance Australia (EFA)
Alison Nankivell
President and Chief Executive Officer,
EDC - Export Development Canada
Moderator
Hesham Zakai
Managing Director,
Exile Group

Hear CEOs of leading ECAs debate how global shifts are redefining the purpose, tools, and operating models of modern export credit agencies. The discussion covers evolving mandates shaped by geopolitics and defence, as agencies balance national security priorities with long-standing commercial and climate commitments. Key themes include the rise of untied and hybrid structures, the operational impact of OECD Arrangement reform, and the extension of tenors into the 20–30 year range and its implications for banks, liquidity, and risk transfer. The panel also examines the growing shift of ECA support toward developed markets, the tightening and reconfiguration of supply chains, increasingly integrated cross-border project structures, and the need to adapt national content approaches to a more complex industrial landscape. Set against record energy-transition demand, grid constraints, critical minerals, offshore wind, battery storage, and renewed interest in nuclear, this session provides a clear view of how ECAs are positioning themselves to remain strategic, counter-cyclical institutions in an era of fragmentation and transition.

Stream

The Buyer's Perspective: Where Insurance, Syndication & Capital Relief Converge

Robert Wendt
Head of Portfolio Management,
MUFG
Gary Lowe
Managing Director & Global Head, Credit Insurance Group,
Standard Chartered
Dennis Pingel
Vice President CPRI & Portfolio Solutions,
KfW IPEX-Bank
Emma Broughton
Head of Corporate Finance, UK and Europe,
ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group)
Vlad Bobko
CEO, Nordics & Central Europe, Head of ECA EMEA,
Aon
Moderator
Hesham Zakai
Managing Director,
Exile Group

This session hands the stage to the customers of CPRI banks to dissect whether current insurance capacity and product offerings truly meet their needs. We then go to the heart of the matter with a technical walk-through of the claims and recovery lifecycle, from initial default to final payout, examining what works, what doesn't, and where the friction points lie.

·       How banks are embedding credit insurance alongside syndication and SRT from origination to unlock lending headroom

·       If banks choose to centralize their insurance operations, what is the benefit of them then setting up dedicated insurance distribution desks in key markets like New York and Singapore?

·       Is there enough insurance/reinsurance capacity for your needs, especially for large, complex, or emerging market risks?

·       What's working (and what's not) in current policy wordings, structures, and placement speed?

·       Common pitfalls, emerging trends, and the latest tools that help maximise returns and minimise friction

·       What can insurers do better to improve the product? Insurers are clear about how they expect banks to act in a claims situation but how do banks expect insurers to act (other than prompt payment of a valid claim of course) and what puts them off working with certain insurers?

·       What do banks think of emerging trading platforms, most notably CRMX on Bloomberg, which connect them directly with credit insurers? What type of business do they look to place on these platforms and why is it not used more often?