Antonello Aquino Associate Managing Director, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Antonello Aquino is Associate Managing Director for EMEA Insurance and for Africa Banking. He is responsible for Moody’s analytic team maintaining Moody’s ratings on EMEA insurers and African banks. Antonello joined Moody’s in 2008 as a senior insurance analyst covering some of the major European (re)insurers. 

Prior to Moody’s, Antonello was responsible for the FIG rating advisory practise at Credit Suisse in Europe. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Antonello was a senior analyst at S&P insurance and worked in the FIG M&A team of DrKW and ABN AMRO. 

Antonello holds an MBA from HEC and is alumnus of London Business School. He graduated in business administration cum laude from Bocconi University in Italy. Antonello is fluent in English, Italian and French.

Mike Wells CEO Athora

Mike is Group CEO having joined Athora in July 2022. He is responsible for the overall coordination and direction of Athora Group and the AHL Management Committee.

Mike is a global financial services leader with more than three decades’ experience in insurance and retirement services, having started his career at the US brokerage house Dean Witter, before going on to become a managing director at Smith Barney Shearson.

Prior to Athora, Mike was Group CEO of Prudential plc from 2015 to 2022, leading the group through one of the most significant periods of change in its long history.  He steered Prudential’s successful transformation into an Asia and Africa focused business, including the execution of two strategic demergers and acceleration of the development of an Asian shareholder base through a successful equity issuance on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Mike first joined Prudential in 1995 and became Chief Operating Officer and Vice-Chairman of its then US business, Jackson, in 2003. In 2011, he was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Jackson and joined the Board of Prudential. During his leadership of Jackson, Mike was responsible for the development of Jackson’s market-leading range of retirement solutions. He was also part of the Jackson teams that purchased and successfully integrated a savings institution and two life companies.

Mike holds a BSc in Economics, San Diego State University.

Michael Sicsic Managing Partner Sicsic Advisory

Michael Sicsic is a senior executive in the field of risk and regulation in the financial services sector, with a strong focus on insurance. He has a deep understanding of business models in the insurance sector and its related risks.

He founded Sicsic Advisory, a strategic regulatory and risk consultancy in 2019. Sicsic Advisory is now an established consultancy with 25+ senior consultants operating across the UK and Ireland with 5 hubs: London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Dublin.

Michael is the former head of supervision of the retail general insurance sector at the Financial Conduct Authority. Formerly, he spent five years at Aviva as Global Operational Risk Director covering Life Insurance, Asset Management and Non-Life insurance. Previously, he worked over 10 years at GE Capital in senior risk and finance positions across commercial and corporate finance activities.

He has extensive international experience covering credit risk modeling and capital allocation, financial risk, ALM, operational risk management and quantification, conduct of business, financial crime compliance, M&A activity across multiple jurisdictions.

Michael is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers.

Benjamin Serra Senior Vice President Moody's Ratings

Benjamin is a Senior Vice President in the European Insurance team, based in Paris. He has primary analytical responsibility for a number of insurance groups in Europe, covering or having covered insurers and reinsurers in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Benelux or in the CIS countries. He is also responsible for the analytical team covering insurers operating in the Middle East region. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2006, Benjamin worked for l’Autorité de Contrôle des Assurances et des Mutuelles (the French insurance supervisory authority) and l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the French financial markets supervisory authority). Member of French Actuarial Association. Degrees in Finance and Actuarial Science (ENSAE) and Finance and Economics (Ecole Polytechnique). Fluent in French.

Brandan Holmes Vice President - Senior Credit Officer Moody's Ratings

Brandan is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the EMEA Insurance Team, with analytical responsibility for a range of (re)insurance ratings across the EMEA region.

Brandan joined Moody’s New York office in 2010, as an analyst responsible for a diverse portfolio of US insurance and reinsurance companies. Prior to joining Moody’s, he was Assured Guaranty Ltd., responsible for accounting policy and transaction advisory services. Brandan started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in South Africa, later transferring to the New York office where he was a manager in the Assurance practice, primarily responsible for the audits of life insurance companies. 

Brandan holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Pretoria and a MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and a Certified Public Accountant (NY).

Maurizio Savina, PhD Senior Director, Model Product Management Moody's

Maurizio’s main passion is about designing and developing innovative solutions to improve Cat risk modelling practices and customer experience. He is the team coach of about ten senior Product Managers responsible for the success of all Moody’s RMS core climate models, spanning Wind, Flood, Wildfire and Severe Convective Storm. Prior to this, Maurizio had different leadership roles at RMS and SCOR where he led Cat Research and Development. Maurizio holds an MSc in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin and a PhD in Hydrology from ETH Zurich.