Several AD&Co employees attended SFVegas 2025. This post shares their unique perspectives from attending the conference and key takeaways from the sessions.

Panel on Climate Risk & Property Valuation (Eknath Belbase)

We started with a discussion of physical and transition risks and how they are related to climate change and quickly moved into how these risks may impact property values and mortgage markets. This portion of the discussion focused on the availability and price of insurance, its potential impact on property valuation and borrower behavior, what is starting to be observed in the data and how this data may evolve in the next couple of years.

The final third of our time was spent on efforts to model these behaviors and the potential for originators and others with access to property and loan-level data to incorporate forward-looking climate risk models into their pricing and risk management decisions. A natural question was how those downstream without access to this personally identifiable information (PII) could model securities with this embedded risk, the potential for market disruption given this informational asymmetry and ideas to get around this issue (how to supply climate risk information to security investors without compromising borrower privacy protections).

Tech Odyssey: PoolKinetics (Laura Silberg)

Rob and I were pleased to have the opportunity to present AD&Co’s PoolKinetics from AD&Co’s latest Kinetics product line during the Tech Odyssey session in the Exhibition Hall at SFVegas.

Employing AD&Co’s LoanDynamics Model, OAS Subroutine and MacroDynamics Models for interest rates, home prices, and unemployment, PoolKinetics is designed to price and analyze the pay-up of specified pools relative to TBAs. Users provide pool characteristics such as loan size, LTV, geography, and credit score, which are critical inputs to model prepayment protection embedded in specified pools.

While AD&Co models are also available through many of our third-party vendor platforms, PoolKinetics is a complete front-to-back-end solution that is robust, flexible, and scalable. It can be integrated using a REST API into internal systems, with user-management and analyses-sharing across teams and a customizable web and desktop user interface.

Contact us to take PoolKinetics for a test drive or for more information.

First Time at SFVegas (Aidan Loftus)

This was my first experience at SFVegas and first conference with AD&Co. Having only been with AD&Co for around 15 months, I was anxious but still thrilled to be able to attend such a highly renowned financial conference. Despite getting lost on my way to the exhibit hall, I finally found the booth and received a warm welcome from my AD&Co teammates, and I knew I would be just fine.

Over the next few days, I was able to interact with some of our current clients and prospects. Every conversation was warm, friendly, and full of enthusiasm for AD&Co and the model solutions that we offer. It was great to finally put a face to some of our vendor partners that I have worked with over the past year. Likewise, it was terrific to network and meet new faces, while learning about their companies’ different products and solutions. The sessions I attended were informative, and I always walked away having learned something significant. A session on EU Securitization and Regulation piqued my interest, as I had very little knowledge of the subject matter. It was insightful to hear the discussion and compare it to the current effort in the United States and GSE reform.

Through all of this, I was able to catch up with my AD&Co team members, and have meaningful conversations about lives, work, and my first experience being at this conference. It was truly great to build camaraderie, and I was so happy that I was able to attend my first-ever conference with the AD&Co team.

A Theme of Uncertainty (Joni Baker)

This was my first time attending SFVegas, and I thoroughly enjoyed the energy, comradery, learning experiences, and market overviews that were shared. In addition to panels on topics such as Student Loan ABS, Agency MBS, and the effect of climate risk on property valuation, I also attended a fascinating talk by Sean Carroll on the Origins of Complexity in the Universe, in which he discussed complexity, entropy, and the surprising ways in which they are related and evolve over time. The Plenary: Macroeconomic & Geopolitical Outlook and Macro-Political Plenary sessions were both highly interesting but more immediate and sobering than the eventual fizzling out of our universe. The general sentiment was that the U.S. economy currently has a lot of uncertainty (“the word of the year”). Still, while panelists’ views generally varied on the details, I didn’t hear anyone who thought that 2025 would be a boom period. Growth will not come from house prices (since house prices are already high), labor force growth (due to immigration restrictions), the public sector (state and local cuts are likely to follow the Federal cuts), or consumers who already have cost fatigue before feeling the effect of any tariffs enacted.

Meanwhile, several deadlines are coming up regarding government funding (now delayed to later in 2025), the debt ceiling, and the expiring 2017 tax cuts. One panelist pointed out that Congress seems to be taking things day by day, with no master plan. It was hypothesized that ultimately, they will end up spending more and adding to the deficit, since this is the “path of least resistance” for fulfilling campaign promises.

Some speakers, seeing Biden’s tenure as a time of government overreach, seemed generally in favor of lifting some regulations to ease business, but not via the current haphazard “deregulation by layoffs” being effected by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Finally, another source of uncertainty is whether the GSEs will leave conservatorship, a complicated endeavor that must be done in a way that preserves the value and liquidity of MBS. I appreciated the overview and insights offered by the panelists at SFVegas, but at the same time, it was a welcome relief to return to the exhibit hall, engage with other conference attendees, and watch the Jenga game of the century taking place at the booth across from ours. I’m looking forward to my next SFVegas!

Now an SFA Veteran (Sam Sutton)

This year marks my very first experience at SFVegas and my first conference while being a part of AD&Co. Some initial feelings included being immensely lost between the vastness of the conference setting and the uniformity of suits surrounding me. However, much of this felt alleviated after finding my team and fully taking in the scope of this conference. The relief brings me back full circle from when I started my journey at the firm. I had my worries and doubts about being able to fit in as a Computer Science major and having zero background in Economics or Structured Finance. In a little over two years, however, my time at AD&Co has reminded me that we do not conform to the norm or status quo when it comes to how we show up.

I thoroughly enjoyed representing AD&Co, almost to the point of pride when realizing SFVegas is such a grand stage with numerous big players recognizing our name and work. Some of my notable interactions included one of the founders of Risk Span, as well as a Chief Strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence. This provided me with a very expansive view of clients and stakeholders to network with, as this has become very scarce in my professional life as of late. The hot topic this year revolved around GSE reform and the potential outcomes of privatization via the current Presidential administration. Hearing one of our very own (Richard Cooperstein) share their thoughts on how these entities representing public utilities should be used in favor of the greater public good versus the private good, it felt reassuring that I share a commitment to this industry with like-minded individuals.

Additionally, I had the pleasure of attending a few sessions on the prominence and implementation of AI in Structured Finance spaces. Mary Purk of Wharton was one of the speakers and single-handedly shifted my perception of AI to a more positive outlook (as it was mentioned in this talk that AI could be viewed either as “A component, or a competitor”). I am happy that I found the chance to learn, network, and participate in team building that reiterates why my experience at AD&Co continues to be irreplaceable. I look forward to joining the fun for another year!

Panel on MBS and Client Meetings (Richard Cooperstein)

I spoke on a panel of experts about the market for Mortgage-Backed Securities. Rather than focus on the technicals and risks of the MBS market, we spent more time on the public discussions of privatizing the GSEs. The general view was that the confidence, efficiency and liquidity of the MBS (GSE and GNMA) markets were all extremely high. Any plan to privatize these “financial market utilities” must be extremely careful not to undermine global confidence in the federal backstop or any of the methods that make the UMBS so liquid and tradable.

A theme of our discussions was the availability of new data that can improve risk and value assessments of mortgage-related assets. These data assets include property-specific climate data and expanded and improved consumer credit data. We hope to explore ways to bring these data and enhanced models into the mainstream of the mortgage ecosystem.