- 20th Anniversary of APRA’s Unit Pricing: Guide to Good Practice – Is It Still Relevant?
- The Impact of Inflation and Market Volatility on Unit Pricing
- The proposed tax on large super balances
- Valuation of unlisted assets for unit pricing
- Unlisted assets and unit pricing
- Unit pricing error remediation
- Automated unit pricing solutions
- Unit pricing controls and automation
- Regulatory Updates and Their Implications for Superannuation Funds
- Building a unit pricing control framework from scratch
- Principles of value attribution for Unit pricing and Crediting rates – Business as Usual and Compensation
- Are Unit Pricing policies always all they seem?
- The unit pricing structure adopted by superannuation fund
- Should we be challenging the old order of unit pricing. Is everything as stable as we might be led to believe?
- Significant cash flows and backdating
- Insights into a service provider’s control framework
- Sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Considerations in Unit Pricing
- Data Integrity and Accuracy in Unit Pricing
Annual UP 2025 Schedule
Learn schedule, program and topics of the Annual UP 2025 - Navigating Innovation & Best Practices in Unit Pricing Forum 2025
KYLE RINGROSE
Principal at Athena IOC
Speakers:
• Why today is different
• Regulatory changes
• Unit pricing risk management enhancements
• Automation improvements
• Why things haven’t always changed for the better
Exploring how superannuation funds manage unit pricing during periods of economic uncertainty and inflation, and best practices for adjusting pricing mechanisms in volatile markets
• The case for higher tax on large balances
• Why the traditional unit pricing processes introduce so much complexity
• The inequities with the proposed solution
• Alternative and more equitable solutions within the unit pricing framework
11:00 MORNING COFFEE & NETWORKING
• What the regulators are saying
• Arbitrage opportunities
• The inconsistency between unlisted assets and daily unit pricing
• The issues with timely and accurate valuations
• The potential to address the issues with price discovery solutions
• Investments in unlisted assets by global pension funds
• Are unlisted assets better suited to Defined Benefit rather than Defined Contribution super funds
• The need for investments in unlisted assets
• Comparing retail and industry fund asset allocations and unit pricing
• The issues with daily unit pricing and unlisted assets
Panel Members TBA
• Common causes of unit pricing errors
• Key elements in an error rectification plan
• Defining what is and what is not an error
• Managing reputation risk
• Why a unit pricing error may be just the tip of the iceberg
12:40 LUNCH BREAK
• Examples of advanced automation in unit pricing
• How controls can be enhanced with an automated solution
• Integrating the unit pricing system with the investment and registry systems
• The potential issues with a “black box” solution
• How automation can add integrity
• Would intra day unit pricing introduce additional risks?
• The case for continued manual checks and controls
Panel Members TBA
2:40 AFTERNOON TEA
An overview of new and upcoming Australian regulatory changes, including ASIC guidance or APRA regulations, and how they affect unit pricing frameworks and compliance
• 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
• Overview of how unit pricing practices have changed over the past two decades.
• Advances in technology and data processing that have impacted unit pricing accuracy and efficiency.
• Reflection on lessons learned from past issues and scandals related to unit pricing errors.
• Impact of automation and AI on unit pricing processes.
• An assessment of which aspects of APRA’s original guide remain relevant and which may require updates.
• Are the core principles of the guide still applicable in today’s financial landscape?
• Recommendations for updates or modernization of the guide, considering current industry trends.
• Future Outlook for Unit Pricing
5:00 - 6:00 1 Hour Networking Drinks
KYLE RINGROSE
Principal at Athena IOC
Speakers:
• Reality checks
• Generally applicable principles
• Additional principles for compensation
• Issues raised by the Guide to Good Practice
• The fundamental purpose of unit pricing policies
• How detailed should the policies be?
• Are the implications of policies truly understood by the Board?
• The extent to which external advice might be used in developing and maintaining policies
• Examples of the need for policy changes in the evolving investment industry
• Example of a traditional structure
• The advantages and disadvantages of the traditional structure
• Why the traditional structure may be better suited to accumulation accounts rather than income stream accounts
• Accommodating derivative instruments in the unit pricing structure
10:40 MORNING COFFEE
• Do we really need to strike so many unit prices with such high frequency?
• Is the industry offering too many unitised products
• The case for daily or less frequent pricing
• Unit pricing issues as the superannuation industry evolves from wealth accumulation into income paying products
• Why two heads can often be better than one
• The need for reassurance at Board level
• How insights from other industry players can enhance a unit pricing governance framework
• The dangers of complacency
12:30 LUNCH BREAK
• How large cash flows can impact unit pricing
• Alternative policies to deal with large cash flows
• The pros and cons of using member reserves to correct unit prices
• Why backdating will always be an issue
• How to minimise the impacts of backdating with appropriate policies
• Using software solutions to automate policies
• Ensuring integrity of the unit pricing process
• Minimising the risk of huma error
• Removing ambiguity from unit pricing discretions
14:30 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
Discuss how superannuation funds are incorporating ESG factors into unit pricing strategies and reporting, and the financial impact of sustainable investing trends.
• Importance of data accuracy in pricing and valuations
• Building robust controls to ensure data integrity in pricing calculations
• Using data analytics to prevent discrepancies in unit pricing
• Data Analytics and Insights for Unit Pricing Optimization
Closing Remarks from the chair
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