PODIUM 2027: seven questions for building tomorrow’s portfolios

From the questioning of traditional models and the rise of private markets to the return of hedge funds, artificial intelligence and digital assets, investors today must contend with a new set of variables. For its third edition, PODIUM will bring together CIOs and allocators in March to compare their analyses and examine new approaches to portfolio construction and diversification.

On 2 and 4 March 2027, PODIUM returns to Geneva, at the Métropole, and then to Zurich, at the Baur au Lac, for a third edition organised by SPHERE and finews. CIOs and investment professionals will meet to compare their analyses and debate the major developments in the markets and their implications for investment strategies. The programme will cover all asset classes and address the key issues shaping portfolio construction and allocation today.

The programme will be built around seven panels, whose themes were defined on the basis of a survey of CIOs and allocators in Switzerland. Seven questions that reflect investors’ current concerns.

1. Which risks are markets underestimating today, and how can extreme scenarios be factored into asset allocation?
2. Is the interest-rate environment calling traditional allocation models into question? Are we witnessing the end of a correlation regime that has lasted forty years?
3. Is the bond market experiencing a genuine renaissance?
4. How can investors find their way through the growing diversity of hedge fund strategies?
5. Given the scale of the capital invested, can private equity remain illiquid?
6. Where does the investment potential of artificial intelligence lie: in infrastructure, applications or data?
7. Bitcoin, stablecoins, tokenisation… what place should digital assets have in portfolios?

Beyond these seven themes, the survey highlights the major changes reshaping wealth management in Switzerland. The first concerns diversification. The questioning of the traditional 60/40 portfolio, weakened by the return of inflation and the correlation between equities and bonds observed since 2022, is prompting allocators to look for new sources of return and decorrelation. Alternative strategies, and hedge funds in particular, are thus regaining a place in investment thinking.

Another major development is the growing share of private markets in portfolios. Private equity, private debt and other unlisted assets account for an increasing proportion of allocations, but their expansion also raises questions about liquidity, valuation and commitment management. At the same time, the return of bonds to the forefront calls for a reassessment of the role of traditional assets, while artificial intelligence and digital assets are opening up new fields of investment.

These developments are compelling professionals to re-examine their convictions and their methods of portfolio construction. At PODIUM, each panel will bring together several CIOs from private banks, asset management firms and family offices. They will compare their analyses and allocation choices with a concrete objective: to understand how they are positioning their portfolios today and which strategies they favour for the years ahead.

Programme and registration: PODIUM Geneva – 2 March 2027 · PODIUM Zurich – 4 March 2027