Invest-Ops Australia 2026 – Investment Operations Challenges Forum is a two-day, in-person and virtual forum designed specifically for Australia’s superannuation and investment operations community. Taking place on 8–9 September 2026 in central Sydney, the forum brings together asset owners, service providers, regulators and technology leaders to tackle the most pressing operational, regulatory and transformation challenges facing investment operations today.
With a strong focus on CPS 230 alignment, operational resilience, front-to-back integration, data reliability, outsourcing, AI adoption and future operating models, the program is highly practical and grounded in real-world case studies, panel discussions and peer exchange.
Early Invited Key Opinion Leaders Includes:
Speakers of The 9th annual Invest-Ops Australia 2026 will update soon!
General Manager Legal, HEST
Director - APAC Product Development & Strategy, Citi
Vice President - Outsourcing Framework Manager (Third Party Governance/ Management, Northern Trust Corporation
Partner- Operational, Technology and Cyber Risk and Resilience, PwC
Managing Director, Calastone AUNZ
CEO at Fame Capital.
Partner, Holley Nethercote Lawyers
General Manager, Equity Post Trade, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE LIMITED
Senior Relationship Manager at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)
Chief Executive Officer, Australian Custodial Services Association
Independent Consultant & Advisor
Head of APAC, Cutter Associates
Country Manager, Financial Risk Solutions (FRS) Ltd
Partner, MD, Investments, Superannuation and Sustainability(ESG) at PwC
General Manager Taxation, HESTA
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Learn schedule, program and topics of the 9th annual Invest-Ops Australia 2026
STEPHEN HUPPERT
Independent Consultant & Advisor
• The Financial Accountability Regime commenced for RSE licensees on 15 March 2025 — investment operations leaders are now
named, mapped and personally exposed
• APRA has signalled it will pursue individuals, not just institutions, where operational frameworks fail
• Many accountability statements do not yet reflect the operational reality they are meant to describe
• What does a FAR-ready investment operations function look like in practice?
Presenter: TBA
• CPS 230 commenced 1 July 2025 — APRA's focus has shifted from implementation evidence to demonstrated, tested
capability
• Third-party and fourth-party risk management is now a board-level obligation under CPS 230, not a procurement function
• Where is the gap between what funds have documented and what they could evidence under supervisory scrutiny?
Moderator:
STEPHEN COUTTS
Director - APAC Product Development & Strategy, Citi
PANELLISTS:
SUSANNA CHAN
Partner- Operational, Technology and Cyber Risk and Resilience, PwC
ANDREW SEXTON
Vice President - Outsourcing Framework Manager (Third Party Governance/ Management,
Northern Trust Corporation
OTHER PANEL MEMBER TBA
10:20 Morning Coffee & Networking Break
• Impacts of global T+1, 24/5 trading and tokenisation on Australian market
• Managing risk during market change, including CHESS replacement
• Critical operations and tolerance levels in a changing landscape
• Strengthening third-party dependencies and operational resilience
• Enhancing transparency and control over post-trade processes
KAREN WEBB
General Manager, Equity Post
Trade, Australian Securities
Exchange Ltd (ASX)
FATOSH LORD
Senior Relationship Manager
at The Depository Trust & Clearing
Corporation (DTCC)
• Unlisted asset valuation methodologies
• The regulator’s views on valuations
• Liquidity risk, concentration risk, transparency and arbitrage opportunities
• Fees and performance
• Volatility and diversification benefits of unlisted assets
• Private credit opportunities and risks
• Can super fund achieve high returns without unlisted assets
• Unlisted assets and daily pricing
KYLE RINGROSE
Principal Consultant Athena IOC
• Managing operational complexity as funds grow in size and sophistication.
• Modernising administration, reconciliations, and investment data processes.
• Creating resilient operating models through automation and digital operations.
• Balancing efficiency, governance, and member outcomes
SS&C TECHNOLOGIES SPEAKER TBA
12:50 Lunch Break & Networking
• The platform market has consolidated around State Street Alpha, BlackRock Aladdin with eFront, and SimCorp One — funds still on legacy architectures face an increasingly urgent decision
• Implementation experience is now substantial enough to move past vendor positioning — what have funds actually
encountered during migration that wasn't visible at business case stage?
• IBOR/ABOR convergence remains unresolved for many funds — what are the governance and FAR accountability implications of getting it wrong?
• What does business-as-usual operations look like post go-live — where are the genuine efficiency gains, and where have new operational risks emerged?
Moderator: TBA
Panellists: TBA
14:35 AFTERNOON TEA & NETWORKING
• The Australian custody market has consolidated to five or six global custodians — at that level of concentration, traditional
SLA monitoring is not a sufficient oversight framework
• CPS 230 has elevated third-party risk management to a board-level governance obligation — how are funds evidencing it to
APRA?
• Data dependencies between funds and custodians are deepening — how are funds managing reconciliation gaps when custodian data underpins risk reporting and regulatory compliance?
• What SLAs and KPIs actually matter when the relationship is under pressure — and what does the conversation look like from the custodian's side?
• Unlisted asset allocations are at historic highs in many funds, yet daily pricing governance frameworks remain inconsistent
across the industry
• APRA's December 2024 thematic directly implicates unit pricing — out-of-cycle revaluation frameworks, valuation independence and board oversight of pricing policies all found wanting
• Unit pricing errors in large funds can affect millions of members and trigger costly remediation programs — the controls must
match the risk
• Is the industry managing unit pricing complexity, or is complexity getting the better of the industry?
Moderator: TBA
Panellists: TBA
STEPHEN HUPPERT
Independent Consultant & Advisor
17:00 Networking Drinks
STEPHEN HUPPERT
Independent Consultant & Advisor
• Investment operations has long been framed as a cost and compliance function — the evidence increasingly shows that operational excellence is a direct source of competitive advantage and member value
• Where does operational alpha come from — automation reducing cost, data quality enabling better investment decisions, or
operational speed allowing funds to act on opportunities that slower competitors cannot?
• What separates the funds building genuine operational capability from those managing the function as a necessary overhead?
• What does the investment operations function look like at the leading edge — and what does it take to get there?
Presenter: TBA
• Examining practical tokenisation use cases across private markets, funds, and alternative assets.
• Understanding the operational, custody, and settlement implications of tokenised assets.
• Assessing the opportunities and challenges for investment managers, super funds, and asset owners.
• Navigating regulatory, governance, and risk considerations in a rapidly evolving market.
MODERATOR:
MARSHA LEE
Managing Director, Calastone AUNZ
PANEL MEMBERS:
GORDON LITTLE
CEO at Fame Capital.
MICHAEL MAVROMATIS
Partner at Holley Nethercote
10:05 Morning Coffee & Networking Break
• Exploring how Agentic AI can automate front-to-back investment operations across superannuation funds.
• Enhancing operational efficiency, accuracy, and scalability through AI-driven workflows.
• Managing governance, risk, and compliance considerations when deploying autonomous AI agents.
• Building the future operating model: integrating Agentic AI with investment, administration, and member service functions.
NARESH SUBRAMANIAM
MD, Investments, Superannuation and Sustainability(ESG) at PwC
• Automating investment operations workflows to improve efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.
• Moving from manual processing to exception-based management and real-time oversight.
• Enhancing data quality, governance, and operational resilience across the investment lifecycle.
• Preparing operating models for AI, growing fund complexity, and evolving regulatory requirements.
CIAN O'DRISCOLL
Country Manager at Financial Risk Solutions (FRS) Ltd
Most organisations have experienced an ATO review, but far fewer are prepared when that review escalates into a formal audit or litigation. This session explores the tax dispute lifecycle and the role investment operations teams play at each stage.
• Review vs audit vs litigation — key differences and implications.
• The role of investment operations throughout a dispute.
• How records and data can become legal evidence.
• Common myths and realities of ATO audits and litigation.
• Best practices for record keeping and governance.
STEPHEN ROSEMAN
General Manager Legal, HESTA
DARIUS LALKAKA
General Manager Taxation, HESTA
12:50 Lunch break & Networking
• Internalisation is an operational program, not a strategic option — the data infrastructure, control frameworks and FAR-aligned accountability structures must be built ahead of asset growth, not alongside it
• Internal teams require real-time access to clean, validated data from custodians, prime brokerages, market data vendors and alternative investment platforms — most funds are still building the architecture
• FAR creates new accountability mapping challenges for internalised functions — the governance structures required must be
explicitly designed for an internal management environment
• Attracting and retaining investment operations professionals capable of supporting sophisticated internal mandates requires different talent and remuneration frameworks than oversight of external managers
STATE STREET SPK TBA
• Payday Super introduces a structural change to the cash flow profile of super funds — contributions flowing with every pay cycle creates a materially different liquidity management challenge
• Daily contribution flows into portfolios with large unlisted allocations will increase the operational burden on unit pricing
functions already under APRA scrutiny
• Liquidity buffer requirements and rebalancing triggers built for quarterly contribution flows may not be adequate for the demands of Payday Super at scale
• What investment operations changes are funds prioritising ahead of the implementation window?
Presenter: TBA
15:05 AFTERNOON TEA & NETWORKING
• Impacts of global T+1, 24/5 trading and tokenisation on Australian market
• Managing risk during market change, including CHESS replacement
• Critical operations and tolerance levels in a changing landscape
• Strengthening third-party dependencies and operational resilience
• Enhancing transparency and control over post-trade processes
MODERATOR:
DAVID TRAVERS
Chief Executive Officer, Australian Custodial Services Association
PANEL MEMBERS:
KAREN WEBB
General Manager, Equity Post Trade, Australian Securities Exchange Limited
FATOSH LORD
Senior Relationship Manager, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)
OTHER PANEL MEMBER TBA
• Offshore allocations approaching 50% in large funds have made cross-border tax compliance a primary operational burden
— FATCA, CRS, withholding tax reclaims, and jurisdiction-specific reporting all require operational infrastructure that many funds have not yet built
• The Burton case (Federal Court ruling on foreign income tax offsets) continues to have practical implications for how FITOs are calculated, passed and disclosed — are operations teams confident in their approach?
• What tools and systems are improving accuracy and timeliness of tax calculations across complex multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction portfolios?
• How do tax and investment operations teams collaborate effectively — and where does the ownership gap create the most risk?
Moderator: TBA
Panellists: TBA
Closing remarks from the Chair
