As Insurance Asset Risk's editorial pick for Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the Year, Ashish Dafria imbues a mixture of optimism for the future, pride for his team and Aviva, where he is UK CIO, recognition of his responsibility to Aviva's customers, and a sense that now is "an exciting and humbling time to be a CIO".
He tells Insurance Asset Risk: "The attributes I aim for, include the confidence that the first principles of investing and risk management do prevail - even if sometimes with a lag! - the humility to recognize that the future, as ever, is unknown – perhaps unknowable - and the optimism that, over a long time horizon, our best days as investors and as people remain in front of us, not least given the emerging breakthroughs in AI/technology, medical science, and sustainability."
Last year brought a lot to swallow for all CIOs, including Dafria, who was overseeing general accounts such as those of Aviva Insurance, Aviva International Insurance and Aviva Life & Pensions UK, among Aviva's UK units.
He acknowledges 2023 "had its share of volatility, with worries about economic cycles, geopolitical crises and increasing sovereign debt balance sheets at a time of higher interest rates".
Against such a backdrop, Dafria finds it "useful to zoom out and put near-term challenges into historical perspective. I have witnessed from close quarters September 11, Lehman's bankruptcy, and more recently the UK mini-budget market volatility - which puts 2023 into context".
As well as navigating the investment waters, Aviva's UK operations formed part of the group's "active engagement" with the PRA, and industry subject-matter expert groups, assessing planned reforms to Solvency II, including to the matching adjustment.
"We broadly welcome the reform proposals," Dafria says, highlighting a potentially widened MA asset pool, "some helpful codification of the current PRA expectations such as around credit ratings", and "some positive intent towards simplifying the process, in addition to the risk margin reduction at the end of 2023".
Dafria says the ambition at Aviva, including its UK units, "remains resolute" in regard to net-zero targets.
"When we set out the Aviva Sustainability Ambition in 2021, of which climate/net-zero is one pillar of a broader sustainability ambition, we knew well that the path will not be linear," he reflects, but "managing the investment risks posed by sustainability changes – and capitalizing on the opportunities offered – is an integral part of delivering investment outcomes."
Looking more broadly at that pivotal topic, Dafra says he feels "encouraged by how the industry and broader economy has followed the lead, and we are all now farther along the path than we were three years ago".
