2024 Researcher Forum

This opening panel will feature leaders in the financial advice profession who represent different business models across large and small licensees and privately-owned boutiques. It will delve into how the landscape has shifted for investment research and portfolio construction at adviser level and ask what advisers and their clients ultimately want from service providers in the research and managed accounts ecosystem.

Includes table discussion

This session will feature exclusive new research on the size and shape of the asset consulting industry adjacent to financial advice in Australia, as well as sentiment from advisers about how they work with asset consultants and research houses, their level of satisfaction and emerging trends in the market.

This panel will debate and discuss the issues raised in the previous session and hear from a diverse range of stakeholders about the dynamics in the asset consulting space, including best practice investment governance, the influence of external consultants in the creation and implementation of approved product lists and managed accounts, how they interact with other stakeholders including responsible entities and wealth platforms, and any conflicts of interest or room for improvement in the ecosystem.

This session will examine cutting edge developments in artificial intelligence and their application for investment processes, including research and ratings, rules-based and quantitative investment strategies, portfolio construction and client engagement.

This session will ask leading asset managers to put forward one big investment idea, strategy or opportunity they believe is well-suited to the current and forward market dynamic, outlining their house investment outlook in the process. Delegates will interrogate the ideas put forward and participate in hypothetical exercises, drawing out the implications and relevance of the theses to financial advice client portfolios.

Includes table discussion

This session featuring an expert on geopolitics will outline the key risks that investors across the spectrum should be cognisant of in a changing landscape following a monumental US presidential election cycle.

This session featuring a senior regulatory official will analyse ASIC’s report 779 on superannuation choice products and explain the implications for financial advice providers, super trustees and their suppliers and trusted confidants. It will provide clarity to the market on the regulatory climate as it pertains to so-called choice products and managed accounts.

This interactive session will feature insights from The Conexus Institute on measurement of investment performance and what wholesale and retail financial advisers and their suppliers and consultants can learn from live debates in the institutional market. Delegates will debate the implications of extending Your Future Your Super to choice products, the merits and outlook for active management and attempt to achieve some consensus on performance metrics.

Includes table discussion

This panel session will examine levels of demand and access to alternative investments and private markets for financial advisers, tapping into global trends, technological developments and the implications for investment researchers and consultants. It will delve into the thorny issue of private asset valuations and transparency.

This session will draw out the trends of personalisation and customisation that are sweeping global wealth management markets to assess how the local market should respond. It will also debate and discuss current dynamics in the managed account market and demand for the various sub-categorisations and incarnations.

This closing panel session will delve into the challenges facing Australia in building a world-class system for the decumulation phase of superannuation and the role for financial advisers and their suppliers/confidants in helping more people achieve a dignified retirement. It will examine the problems of rating and assessing retirement income products and breaking down the notorious complexity of the longevity puzzle.