Forecast Dinner, 25.2.2026
Forecast Dinner 2026 is happening on 25th February. During the evening we will award the annual Forecaster and Volunteer of the Year Awards, as well as have time for networking and forecasting for the year 2026.
As keynote speaker we are happy to welcome Altaf Kassam, CFA, Europe Head of Investment Strategy and Research at State Street Investment Management. He will present on "Macroeconomic drivers of asset allocation, including geopolitics and the need for FX hedging."
"Like 2025, 2026 will see Macroeconomic factors—including geopolitics, trade, and policy shifts— as key drivers of our asset allocation decisions. We challenge the notion that local investment strategies are safer - global portfolios often carry more equity-driven risk than investors realize. Currency risk and hedging play a significant role in portfolio volatility, with the impact of hedging varying greatly over time and sometimes increasing risk, especially post-2008. Diversification benefits from unhedged currency exposure are often fleeting, and the cost of carry has been high in recent years. We advise investors to stick with global portfolios while actively managing FX risk, as the world adapts to US policy changes and recalibrates exposures."
SPEAKER
Altaf Kassam is a Managing Director and the Europe Head of Investment Strategy and Research at State Street Investment Management. He and his team are responsible for developing thought leadership and executing custom projects for clients across EMEA in the fields of asset allocation and portfolio construction, as well as working with global portfolio managers and strategists to develop multi-asset investment solutions.
Altaf joined from MSCI, where he led a team focused on educating institutional investors on analyzing, designing and using factor-based portfolios. While at MSCI, he published research on ESG, factor crowding, and index analysis, inter alia.
Before joining MSCI, Altaf worked in sell-side research, leading equity derivative and global quantitative strategy teams across the Asia Pacific and EMEA regions for Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. Altaf began his career at SBC Warburg as a founding member of the equity derivatives research team.
Altaf has a Master of Science in Finance from London Business School, and a First-Class (Honors) joint degree in Engineering and Computing Science from St. John's College, UK. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.
