Day 1 – Monday 5 September

10.00 am - 1.45 pm

Conference Registration

10.30 am - 12.15 pm

AIST Conference Primer 

This session is designed to help trustees get the most out of the Conference. It will provide trustees with background information on the topics and investment concepts that will be discussed throughout the Conference.
Speaker: Fiona Trafford-Walker, Managing Director, Frontier Investment Consulting

12.30 pm - 2.00 pm

Lunch

Few can capture the essence of our country and its heroes like Rupert McCall. An exciting Australian talent, Rupert is the author of five anthologies of verse that have collectively sold over 120,000 copies. For many years he hosted the top rating Qld television program, The Great South East. Rupert was only 24 years old when he wrote the poem 'Green and Gold Malaria', which has since been taken to the hearts of our nation as summing up Australian pride.
Speaker: Rupert McCall.

Sponsored by

2.10 pm - 2.20 pm

Conference Opening

Speaker: Garry Weaven, Executive Chair, Industry Fund Services

2.20 pm - 3.00 pm

Consequences of Choice – Can Small Funds Survive?

What will Fund Choice mean for the investments of the large funds and the not so large funds? Does size matter? Yes, it does, but in some surprising ways!
Speaker: Fiona Trafford-Walker, Managing Director, Frontier Investment Consulting

3.00 pm - 3.40 pm

How Can You Make The Active Return Potential Of Hedge Funds Work For Your Portfolio?

What are the structural advantages that hedge funds have? Have hedge funds produced active returns? What are the key risks attached to these active returns? What approaches can an institutional investor use to access the active return potential of hedge funds? Speaker: David Bell, Head of Hedge Funds, Colonial First State

3.40 pm - 4.10 pm

Afternoon Tea

4.10 pm - 5.00 pm

Investment Horizons: Will Choice Shorten The Long Term?

The past 12 months has seen the industry consumed with preparing for Fund Choice, and each fund busy with making sure that it is the fund of choice for both members and employers from 1 July 2005. Fund Choice, however, has wider long term issues for trustees to consider. This session will look at the issues surrounding Fund Choice from an investment perspective and consider the relationship between liquidity and return, examine shortermism, benchmarks and competitor risk.

Speaker: Rob Fowler, Investment Manager, HESTA

7.00 pm

Welcome Dinner

Day 2 - Tuesday 6 September

9.00 am – 9.45 am

China: What’s The Real Deal?

We continue to hear about the growing economic strength of China, but what do we really know about the country that commentators talk about as being the next world "superpower". This session will take an indepth look at China, its people, its economy and its potential.
Speaker: Sun Bae Kim, Economist Co-Director of Asian Economic Research, Goldman Sachs

10.00 am – 10.45 am

In Defence Of Benchmarks

This session will examine the issue of whether benchmarks are there to be beaten, hugged or ignored.
Speakers: Andrew Harrison, Senior Investment Manager - Research, Industry Funds Management

10.45 am – 11.15 am

Morning Tea

11.15 am – 11.45 am

Alternative Investing: Confidently Taking A Path Less Trodden

Alternative Investing: Confidently Taking A Path Less Trodden Most super funds recognise that a significant allocation to alternative investments is critical to consistently outperforming peers and reducing large exposures to listed shares and property trusts. But few have the confidence to set out on this path and, indeed, an ill-conceived strategy can simply compound existing risks, take too long to implement and add significantly to fund MERs. The key to success is for trustees to (i) develop confidence in their understanding of how much risk they are really taking, including through a more holistic approach to "risk budgeting"; and (ii) develop a more customised strategy for investing in alternatives.
Speaker: Ross Barry, Director, Sovereign Investment Research

11.45 am – 12.30 pm

Currency Is Not A Zero Sum Game

With polarised views on the state of the US economy and the future of the US dollar vs Australian dollar, currency management is an important topic. This session will examine a number of common misconceptions about currency management and address some of the key issues and examine the latest trends. Speaker: Charles J Jacklin, President, Mellon Capital Management (US)

12.30 pm – 1.45 pm

Lunch

Sponsored by

1.45 pm – 2.45 pm

Stock Selection: Why Managers View Stocks Differently?

This session, involving three investment managers with varying approaches, will examine a number of stocks and each manager's perspective on them and look at why for one manager it's a buy and another it's a sell and how trustees are supposed to make sense of it all.
Speakers: Peter Greentree, Head of Equities, Challenger; Lee Mickelburough, Partner, Perennial Growth Management; Stuart Rae, Chief Investment Officer, Bernstein Australian Value

2.45 pm – 3.15 pm

Afternoon Tea

3.15 pm – 4.00 pm

Crickey’s Corporate Captions

This session will look at the activities of corporate Australia over the past 12 months, and examine the big issues in the corporate governance arena.
Speaker: Stephen Mayne, Business Editor, Crikey Media

4.00 pm – 4.30 pm

In Search Of The Elusive Discount Rate For Australian Property Investment Markets

Following on from last year's session on the drivers of value in commercial property markets, we delve into property discount rates. What are they? How are they determined? Where do we see them going? What does this mean for Australia's property investment markets?
Speaker: Trent Alston, General Manager, Wholesale Funds, Colonial First State Property

7.00 pm

Pre dinner Drinks

7.15 pm

Conference Dinner

Sponsored by

Day 3 - Wednesday 7 September

9.15 am - 10.00 am

Psychology And Asset Pricing

Behavioural finance has made great strides in the past decade in enhancing our understanding of the trading behaviour of investors. Contrary to the traditional view of rational decision making, investors have been found to exhibit various psychological biases, ranging from the representative heuristic to loss aversion. We undertake a survey of the behavioural finance literature, and how researchers have sought to apply the psychology of decision making to investors. Of particular interest is how psychological biases of both individuals and groups exhibit and/or contribute to poor decision making and asset pricing anomalies. We also explore the increasingly important role that psychology will play in financial markets over the next decade.
Speaker: Sam Ferraro, Quantitative Analyst, Goldman Sachs JBWere

10.00 am - 10.30 am

Morning Tea

10.30 am - 11.30 am

The Big Picture

Two of the most important big picture issues for the world to address over the next decade are climate change and demographic change. This session will examine both issues and then look at their impact on investment markets.
Speakers: Michael Hawker, Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Australia Group Ltd and Kumar Palghat, Head of Portfolio Management, Asia Pacific, PIMCO

11.30 am – 12.20 pm

Open Forum: The Speeches Are Over And Finally It’s Your Chance To Talk!

Panellists - Garry Weaven, Executive Chair, IFS; Fiona Trafford-Walker, Managing Director, Frontier Investment Consulting; Paul Harrison, Vice President, PIMCO; Mark Delaney, Chief Executive Officer, STA

12.20 pm – 12.30 pm

Conference Close

12.30 pm

Light Lunch

Bus to Airport

A bus will depart from Cairns International Hotel on Wednesday 7th September at 12.45 pm for Cairns Airport.

A light lunch will be available in the foyer area outside the conference room at the conclusion of the Conference.

Please allow 10 - 15 minutes travel time from the Hotel to the Airport.