8th Annual Asset Allocation Australia Summit
Live in person – L’Aqua, Sydney and Online (all times are AEST)
Thursday 5 May 2022
8.30 AM Opening Remarks from the Chair
8.35 AM Keynote Address: Inflation and its implications
- Insights into the sources of the current global spike in inflation
- Discussion as to whether the spike is likely to be sustained or will turn out to be transitory
- What would need to occur to turn a temporary spike into a sustained spike
- Implications for monetary policy and interest rate markets in the short-and longer-term – if higher inflation is sustained
Tapas Strickland, Director – Economics, NAB
9:05 AM: Emerging Markets: Navigating opportunities and pitfalls in a changing world
- Embracing the new China investment landscape
- Doing business in India after a period of reform
- Companies tapping large addressable market opportunities through the provision of solutions in healthcare, financial services and clean tech
- Governance as a crucial lens to navigate an uncertain macro, regulatory and geopolitical environment
Ian Smith, Portfolio Manager, Newton Investment Management
Alex Khosla, Portfolio Manager, Newton Investment Management
9.25 AM: International Assets: Regions, cycles, and currency risks
- Framing of the international opportunity set and its role in offsetting a domestic bias
- Debate about the capacity for offshore investment teams to assist with overseas deal origination
- Discussion as to how to confer diversification from different regions
- Techniques to manage valuations and currency risk
John Lucey, Chief Investment Officer, Resolution Life
Ross Etherington, Chief Investment Officer, EISS Super
Scott Tully, Chief Investment Officer, Colonial First State
Anastassia Juventin, Chief Investment Officer, Lipman Burgon & Partners
10.15 AM: Morning Coffee
10:45 AM The impact of YFYS – benchmarks, tracking error and peer awareness
- Discussion as to how often should an investment team think about the heatmaps
- Debate into the challenges of reconciling sustainability and performance given the heightened risks with tracking errors
- Enquiry into the implications of homogenising portfolios and avoiding crowded trades
- Predictions as to how funds will further differentiate themselves in terms of investment philosophies
Joseph Bracken, Senior Investment Manager, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation
Gwion Moore, Head of Investment Strategy, Mercer
Scott Bennett, Head of Quantitative Investment Solutions – Asia Pacific, Northern Trust Asset Management
Norman Zhang, Chief Investment Officer, Legal Super
11:30 AM: Sustainable infrastructure: Building back better?
- Discussion into the impact of the pandemic on infrastructure plans around the world
- Enquiry into the cost implications as supply chains are stretched
- Analysis of the renewable energy needs in the decade to come
- Capturing the needs of the green economy and how to reduce risks in pursuing nascent technologies
Carsten Haubner, Portfolio Manager Sustainable Infrastructure, KGAL Investment Management
11.50 AM: Real Assets: Correlations, protection, and yield
- Predictions about temporary and permanent shifts in behaviour across real estate markets
- Analysis of the correlation between asset classes in the new normal
- Discussion around the opportunities as confidence returns to society
- Analysis of how to think about crowded thematics and hot valuations
Wayne Lasky, Executive Chairman and Founder, MaxCap Group
12.10 PM Lunch
1.10 PM Team dynamics: Culture, collaboration, and remote personnel
- Outlining the impact scale has on team culture dynamics
- Sharing of best practice with remote teams, including international colleagues
- Analysis of the techniques used to create optionality for personnel to build hybrid working patterns within investment teams
- Discussion around the role office space plays in promoting rigorous debate across an investment team
Jill Monaghan, Chief Investment Officer, Suncorp
Micah Schulz, Head of Office, Investment Management, Lendlease Investment Management
Thadeus McCrindle, Chief Investment Officer, Sandhurst Trustees
1.55 PM Investment partnerships: Bespoke collaborations in a nuanced world
- Identification of the risks presented with a typical portfolio from asset classes, correlation and currency
- Articulation through a case study as to how to manage risk in the current frameworks
- Debate as to how to best navigate changes in asset class correlation
- Predictions on the impact of evolving governance issues on fee budgets, risk budgets and performance
Justin Lo, Portfolio Manager, Australian Retirement Trust
Andrew Harrex, Managing Director Australia / New Zealand, PE Investments
2:25 PM Executing on your investment beliefs: People, processes, and technology
- Identification of the legacy architecture used across funds
- Analysis of the needs of investments teams
- Debate as to which mechanism leads to change in your total portfolio thinking, human interpretation or data driven evidence?
- Evaluation of where technology sits within the growth plans for investors
Rein Van Rooyen, formerly Head of Investment Performance & Operations, QSuper Group
Marian Azer, Managing Director, Asia Pacific & Head of Global Product, Milestone Group
Claire Thornton, Senior Manager, Balance Sheet Management, AustralianSuper
Bruce Russell, Executive Director, Shoreline AWC
2:45 PM Afternoon Tea
3.15 PM The brave new world: The hydrogen decade?
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- Outlining the challenges with blue and green hydrogen as energy sources
- Anticipating the regulatory regime which will influence assets in the years to come
- Analysing the opportunity set along the hydrogen value chain
- Exploring the risks associated with emergent technologies
Thomas Engelmann, Head of Energy Transition, KGAL
3.35 PM Energy transition: Reducing carbon footprints efficiently and effectively
- Analysis into the trade-offs around divestments v refurbishment
- Outlining criteria by which to build the energy mix of the future
- Debate into the timelines associated with achieving net zero emissions
- Evaluation as to where this impacts performance against benchmarks
Akaash Sachdeva, Manager Responsible Investment, HESTA
Sarah Gallard, Senior Manager, Responsible Investment, State Super
Bill Dwyer, Senior Consultant, JANA
4.10 PM Responsible Investing – developing taxonomy, metrics and execution
- Capturing how different organisations currently think about ESG data
- Enquiry into where the harmonisation of taxonomy and metrics might come from
- Discussion into reconciling absolute and relative performance changes of an asset
- Debate around the road bumps and non-linear outcomes that lie ahead
Liza McDonald, Head of Responsible Investment, Aware Super
Mary Fallon, Director, Investment Office, Australian National University
Tim Unger, Investment Consultant, Willis Towers Watson
4.50 PM Closing Remarks from Chair
5.00 PM Drinks Reception
5.15 PM “A new world order, or a new world disorder?” Keynote – Dr Keith Suter
7.00 PM Conclusion of networking drinks