Geopolitical Risk

Program Description

The program itself states it plainly: this course is, perhaps, the most crucial of all. Because it does not matter how much you optimize, diversify or structure your portfolio if you fail to treat geopolitical risk as an existential threat. This is not about geography. It is about events that can change everything: expropriations, asset freezes, extreme tax shifts, war, populist instability or totalitarianism disguised as reform.

Over two in-person sessions, Carlos Ramírez — partner at Integralia, former president of the CONSAR and former political risk consultant for Mexico at Eurasia Group — maps the full landscape of wealth risk: macroeconomic, demographic, liquidity, health and geopolitical. With cases that left permanent lessons: Venezuela, Ukraine, Argentina, the Gulf War, 9/11, the annexation of Crimea, the market freezes of 2008 and March 2020.

The purpose is practical: learning to read signals, shield structures and build solid wealth defenses against the unthinkable. From safe-haven assets such as gold and the Swiss franc to OPIC/MIGA political risk insurance.

General Objective

Identify and assess the principal global risks — geopolitical, macroeconomic and demographic — that can affect substantial wealth, and incorporate their analysis into financial planning. Upon completion, participants will understand how wars, trade tensions, drastic political shifts or health crises impact markets and economies, and will know how to design portfolio-level mitigation strategies — diversification, hedging, insurance and contingency plans — to protect wealth against adverse scenarios.

Learning Objectives

• 01Distinguish systemic from idiosyncratic risk and identify the interconnections between political, economic and social risks in a global portfolio.
• 02Assess how inflation, stagflation and interest rate risk erode wealth, and anticipate the reversal risk of unconventional monetary policies.
• 03Incorporate demographic risk — longevity and unexpected mortality — into retirement funds, insurance and wealth structures.
• 04Manage portfolio liquidity through crises: buffers, pre-approved credit lines and the balance between liquid and illiquid assets.
• 05Analyze the financial effects of global health events and long-term care planning.
• 06Read the reaction of oil, gold and equity markets to geopolitical events, based on the historical study of cases.
• 07Assess the country risk of the jurisdictions where the family holds investments, using political risk indices and rating agency analysis.
• 08Design geopolitical hedges: from safe-haven assets to OPIC/MIGA political risk insurance.

Why Take This Program

1. The program itself defines it as 'perhaps, the most crucial' module of the entire Private Wealth Management Executive Program.
2. Taught by Carlos Ramírez, partner and co-director at Integralia, former president of the CONSAR and former political risk consultant for Mexico at Eurasia Group, Washington DC.
3. Faculty with elite credentials: an economist from ITAM, a political scientist from UNAM, with master's degrees from the London School of Economics and Columbia University.
4. Cases analyzed in the classroom: Venezuela, Ukraine, Argentina, the Gulf War, 9/11 and the annexation of Crimea.
5. A comprehensive view in a single map: macroeconomic, demographic, liquidity, health and geopolitical risk.
6. Concrete hedging tools: safe-haven assets such as gold and the Swiss franc, and OPIC/MIGA political risk insurance.
7. Intensive in-person format: 2 sessions (4 hours) on September 28 and 29, 2026, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.
8. First-rate venues: Club de Industriales in Polanco and IADA Anáhuac in Huixquilucan.
9. Module XVI of the Private Wealth Management Executive Program, available as a standalone course.
10. Academic backing from the Private Wealth Management Institute in alliance with IADA, Instituto de Alta Dirección of the Anáhuac Business School.

Syllabus — Key Topics

• Comprehensive portfolio risk: systemic vs. idiosyncratic risk
• Interconnections between political, economic and social risks
• Macroeconomic risks: inflation, stagflation and interest rate risk
• Unconventional monetary policies (QE, negative rates) and reversal risk
• Demographic risk: longevity, mortality and their impact on retirement and insurance
• Liquidity risk: lessons from 2008 and March 2020
• Liquidity management: buffers, pre-approved credit lines and the mix of liquid and illiquid assets
• Health and public health risk: the financial effects of global pandemics
• Geopolitical risk: armed conflicts, terrorism, regime change and regional tensions
• Market impact: oil, gold and equities through the Gulf War, 9/11, Crimea and Ukraine
• Country risk: political risk indices and rating agency analysis
• Geopolitical hedging instruments: safe-haven assets and OPIC/MIGA political risk insurance

Faculty

Carlos Ramírez