HYBRID (in-person & live-streamed)
Forum 2024
Annual UP 2024Best Practices in Unit Pricing 2024 Forum
20th - 21st May, Novotel Central Sydney
Days
Hours
Minutes
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About The Event

This annual forum has been embraced by industry participants for more than a decade. It provides valuable insights for new participants as well as highlighting emerging trends for more experienced delegates. Speakers include some of the most widely recognised authorities on unit pricing in the industry. Their presentations will provide opportunities to share their experiences and thoughts throughout the two-day Forum. Topics at this year’s forum include a reflection on the traditional unit
pricing models adopted by service providers and considers whether the “use by date” may be approaching or whether these models have and will continue to stand the test of time. The valuations of unlisted assets have been a focus of finance industry regulators, superannuation funds and investment managers throughout this year and we will examine the key issues and how they may impact
on the integrity of unit prices. Further topics include arbitrage mitigation, automation and technology, unit pricing control frameworks and insights into service providers methodologies and challenges.
The forum is suitable for anyone engaged in the unit pricing process from the most junior to the most senior members of an organisation. The forum will also be informative and interesting for those wishing to gain some insights into unit pricing from the outside.

Topics Covered at the Conference
  • Future Unit Pricing Challenges
  • Coming through COVID: Unit pricing lessons from the pandemic
  • Arbitrage opportunities in volatile markets
  • Why the valuation of unlisted assets can have a material impact on the integrity of unit price
  • Is arbitrage a thing of the past or is it becoming a greater issue as consumer
  • Implementing RPA and/or AI in your unit pricing processes.
  • Fully automated unit pricing: is this the future?
  • The role of indexing in Unit Pricing. Is it common practice? Pros and cons
  • Insights into a service provider’s control framework
  • Building unit pricing validation model
  • Taking responsibility for errors
  • What are the appropriate ‘oversight’ controls of outsource providers
  • Impacts of different ‘tax wash up’ approaches
  • The typical superannuation fund unit pricing structure. Is it outgrowing its usefulness
  • The impact of regulatory changes on super funds and unit pricing
  • After-tax investing: what can we learn from our unit price tax provisions?
  • Super fund mergers and unit pricing impacts
  • The great migration from super accumulation to pension – specific unit pricing issues and opportunities raised by this great migration?
  • Operational Due Diligence in particular unit pricing aspects
  • Unit pricing requirement for different asset classes ETFs, Crypto
  • The impact of a concentrated group of unit pricing service providers
  • Incorporation of unlisted / infrequently valued assets into daily pricing
  • Where is Unit Pricing Heading?

Unit Pricing Forum 2024 in Sydney offers

sponsors an excellent opportunity to demonstrate thought-leadership and leverage networking opportunities to build brand-value amongst senior unit pricing professionals. If you would like to know more about sponsorship, exhibition and business development opportunities please just get in touch with us

Early Invited Speakers include:
Learn speakers of the Annual UP 2024 - Unit Pricing Forum 2024.
Senior Manager, Investment Accounting and Operations, Funds SA
Independent Financial Services Consultant
Head of Fund Operations at Generation Life
Chief Executive Officer, Link Fund Solutions
Director – Investment & Wealth Advisory Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Country Manager, Financial Risk Solutions (FRS) Ltd
Principal at Athena IOC
Athena IOC
Managing Director McGing Advisory & Actuarial
Independent Consultant & Advisor
Director, KONU
Director at Deloitte Australia
Principal, Jefferson & Shea
Partner- Financial Services, Consulting, Ernst & Young
Principal, PFS Consulting (invited)
Managing Director at CXi Software
Director, Consulting Services, Australia, Cutter Associates
Actuarial Analyst at McGing Advisory & Actuarial
Get Involved
Interested to be a sponsorer/speaker for this event?
Our Sponsors:
Annual UP 2024 Schedule
Learn schedule, program and topics of the Annual UP 2024 - Unit Pricing Forum 2024

• Key risks to be aware of as we move forward
• Impact of regulatory changes
• Technology impacts & automation
• How unit pricing has evolved since the introduction of the Guide to Good practice.
• How the evolution of the financial services industry will impact unit pricing into the future.

PANEL MEMBERS:

MATTHEW BAYNES
Senior Manager, Investment Accounting and Operations, Funds SA

CRAIG ROODT
Director – Investment & Wealth Advisory,
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

• The arbitrage opportunities that arose during Covid
• How funds and investment managers addressed the issues
• Were people “ïn the know” able to take advantage of the situation
• The fiduciary role of the Trustee in mitigating arbitrage risk

CRAIG ROODT
Director – Investment & Wealth Advisory Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

PETER KIRIEVSKY
Director, Assurance and Advisory,
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

• The drivers of asset valuations – fundamentals or emotion
• The issues with valuations of unlisted assets
• Arbitrage opportunities with infrequent asset valuations
• Why valuations of listed assets have a disconnect with valuations of unlisted assets
• The impact of ignoring critical features of unlisted assets when striking unit prices

KYLE RINGROSE
Principal at Athena IOC

11:00 MORNING COFFEE & NETWORKING

• Examples of arbitrage opportunities arising
• Are funds and Trustees sufficiently aware of potential arbitrage opportunities?
• What are the common mitigators for arbitrage and what are the pros and cons of each?
• Who are the winners and losers when a fund experiences arbitrage
• Is arbitrage a legal or an ethical issue?

PANEL MEMBERS:

PETER KIRIEVSKY
Director, Assurance and Advisory, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

JULES GRIBBLE
Principal, PFS Consulting

MODERATOR:

KYLE RINGROSE
Principal at Athena IOC

• Can it all happen while we are asleep?
• A demonstration of a unit price strike in 30 seconds!

SÉAMUS Ó CONCHEANAINN
Managing Director at CXi Software

12:40 Lunch Break

• Need – automation, speed, reliable systems, better control, better governance, supervision
• The practicalities
• Danger of silos within big entities
• Finding and keeping UP specialists

• What does adequate oversight of a custodians unit pricing
function look like?
• Cost v benefit v risk
• Key focus areas
• What environment should this be done in (systems, excel,
other etc)

WILLIAM J WALKER
Director, Consulting Services, Australia,
Cutter Associates

14:40 AFTERNOON TEA

• The control framework required for multiple unit pricing clients
• Examples of the service provider’s controls
• The need for independent review of the control framework
• Where the service provider’s controls differ to the asset ownwer’s controls
• The need for the asset owner to become involved in the service provider’s control framework

PAUL KHOURY
Managing Partner, Cove Partners Pty Ltd.
Former CEO, Link Fund Solutions

• Where to start in a “green field” environment
• Key considerations form the asset owner’s perspective
• Examples of developing the controls with the benefit of hindsight
• How we can learn from historical errors in other organisations
• The need for independent external input into building the internal control framework

MARTIN WALSH
Independent Financial Services Consultant

• Unit pricing risks and controls
• Taking responsibility for errors
• The difference between service provider and asset owner controls
• Is insourcing of unit pricing a realistic option for a superannuation fund?
• What are the appropriate ‘oversight’ controls of outsource
providers
• Impacts of different ‘tax wash up’ approaches

PANEL MEMBERS:

PAUL KHOURY
Managing Partner, Cove Partners Pty Ltd.
Former CEO, Link Fund Solutions

MODERATOR:

KYLE RINGROSE
Principal at Athena IOC

17:00 CLOSING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the typical
unit pricing structure?
• Does it impose too many restrictions on a fund’s ability
to introduce new products?
• Is the traditional model appropriate for developing
retirement income products?
• How could a fund develop an income only distributing
member option?

JULES GRIBBLE
Principal, PFS Consulting (invited)

Focusing on after-tax investment returns aligns super fund
investment thinking with what its members care about. Plus,
it’s a legislative requirement. But understanding how tax impacts investment performance requires good data which measures the right thing. This session compares the
functions of tax provisioning and after-tax performance measurement and management and answers the key
question of what unit price tax provisions really tell us about
how well funds are responding to the after-tax investing challenge

RAEWYN WILLIAMS
Principal, Jefferson & Shea
Impact Strategists

10.40 MORNING COFFEE & NETWORKING

• How often should you adjust?
• Realised versus unrealised gains?
• What is best practice in forecasting?

Panel Members :

SEAN MCGING
Managing Director, McGing Advisory& Actuarial

JULES GRIBBLE
Principal, PFS Consulting

DAVID MILLAR
Partner Financial Services, Ernst & Young

12:30 Lunch Break

• SPS 530 (and expected new SPG 530) Invest Governance in Super.
• CPS 230 – Operational Risk Management - Extra part at start + including CPS231 and 232.
• SPS 114 – Op risk – extension to resilience – Easier to get fids early for UP errors. New base. Easier to use ORFR

• Will NAS’s decision to exit the market have a major impact?
• Who will fill the unit pricing gap?
• Are there enough players to “keep the service providers honest”?
• Is the Australian market materially different to overseas markets?

PAUL TOEPFER
Director, KONU

• Reflections on the conference presentations
• Is the Guide as relevant today as it was a decade ago?
• What changes could enhance the Guide?
• What are the big changes we have seen over the last decade?
• What changes would you like to see?
• Who will drive these changes? Trustees, regulators, unit
holders?
• Is there sufficient awareness of unit pricing in the
community and is this a “big deal”?

SEAN MCGING
Managing Director, McGing Advisory & Actuarial

KYLE RINGROSE
Principal at Athena IOC

Annual UP 2023 Resource
Download a copy of the event brochure and know more about the venue.
Registation Packages
Learn about registation Prices and offers for Annual UP 2024 - Unit Pricing Forum 2024
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - SUPER EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION:
Register before 30th Nov
2195 + GST
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION:
Register before 28th Feb
2495 + GST
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - NORMAL REGISTRATION:
Register after 28th Feb
2695 + GST
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - UNLIMITED GROUP TEAM REGISTRATION

Register & pay for 3 delegates & get unlimited registrations* (*Can attend in-person or virtually )

VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - SUPER EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION:
Register before 30th Nov
1795 + GST
VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION:
Register before 28th Feb
1895 + GST
VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - NORMAL REGISTRATION:
Register after 28th Feb
1995 + GST
VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION - UNLIMITED GROUP TEAM REGISTRATION

Register & pay for 3 delegates & get unlimited registrations* (*Can only attend virtually)

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