12th Fund Summit
23 October 2025
The Langham Sydney
Agenda
09.00-09.10 // Welcome and conference opening
09.10-09.50 // Strategic priorities: the industry outlook for 2026
With market turmoil and uncertain business conditions dominating headlines for much of 2025, how are organisations positioning as we move into 2026?
- Executive priorities: reassessing opportunities and challenges in the face of uncertain business conditions.
- M&A – will we see a ‘normalisation’ of activity, or can we expect a continuation of mergers in line with ongoing market conditions? How does this look for funds management versus the super sector?
- Scale and investment capacity: where to next?
- How is the competitive landscape changing? How can super funds and asset managers remain differentiated and what are prospects for new entrants / digital disruptors?
09.50-10.30 // Becoming future-fit: embracing digital transformation
As expectations around service delivery, efficiency and operational agility continue to rise, this session will discuss how investment managers are transforming into digital-led organisations:
- Next-gen ‘adaptive’ operating models as technology and outsourcing opportunities evolve.
- How can investment management firms modernise their investment infrastructure, reduce operational risk and unlock efficiencies while managing BAU and the complexities of legacy system transformation?
- Digital transformation case studies.
- The price of inertia – will we start to see a bifurcation in the market between the digitally-enabled and those operating on legacy arrangements? What are the prospects for newer entrants that are not constrained by legacy technology?
10.30-11.00 // Refreshments and networking
11.00-11.40 // When the lights go out: operational resilience in a digitally-dependent world
Outages in recent times – aside from generating column inches in the press – have highlighted the operational risks that come with digital transformation. While the shift to cloud-based infrastructure and third-party platforms promises agility and scalability, it also introduces new failure points and underlines the importance of redundancy and recovery measures.
This session will discuss how investment firms are focusing on improving resilience in an increasingly digital and AI-driven operating environment:
- Outsourcing risk management: service provider due diligence and ongoing oversight.
- Managing 3rd and 4th party risks: how much due diligence is sufficient to make an adequate risk assessment?
- Robust redundancy and recovery processes.
- Beyond CPS 230.
11.40-12.20 // Where rubber meets road: moving from technology architecture to implementation
Many investment managers have invested significant time and resources in to designing future-state operating models and now the emphasis is on translating strategy into execution. This session will explore a case study of a modern operating model transformation and highlight the practical challenges and critical success factors when moving from operating model design and technology architecture to actual implementation:
- Moving targets: ‘adaptive’ operating models and the ‘just-in-time’ architecture.
- System convergence and interoperability: aligning technology, data and people.
- Successful troubleshooting and maintaining BAU during implementation and integration processes.
- Measuring progress and defining success.
Rodney Cowled
Manager – Strategic Programs,
Platinum Asset Management
12.20-12.40 // Roundtable discussion
12.40-13.40 // Lunch & networking
13.40-14.20 // AI and fin-tech: innovation in practice
AI and other fin-tech solutions are increasingly embedded in the operational fabric of investment firms. This session will examine how Australian investment firms and their service providers are implementing AI solutions. It will discuss the groundwork; benefits and operational implications for integration, governance and long-term resilience:
- Where are the opportunities?
- Leveraging new partners: how are industry service providers using AI?
- Hitting the ground running: internal operating model and data management pre-requisites.
- Best practice risk management and oversight.
- Avoiding ‘AI-washing’: assessing the true value add of AI capabilities in investment processes and products.
Stuart Brown (Chair)
Head of Data & Analytics,
BT Financial Group
14.20-14.50 // ‘RFPs’ and investor reporting: an AI deep dive
This presentation will focus on practical use cases of how AI can alleviate operational pain points as relates to client acquisition and servicing. It will discuss:
- Using AI to automate and transform the RFP process.
- Leveraging AI to streamline investor reporting.
14.50-15.10 // Roundtable discussion
15.10-15.40 // Refreshments and networking
15.40-16.20 // Winning retail investors: the X(perience) factor
This session will discuss how investment managers can improve their service offerings to retail investors in the face of increased competition and rising customer expectations:
- Attracting retirees – how can organisations best engage and serve this important and growing customer cohort from a product and service delivery perspective?
- How can product providers efficiently engage with financial advisors and support them to grow business via that channel?
- How can you optimise the use of digital and AI solutions to facilitate growth and make your client experience as frictionless as possible?
Eric Blewitt
Chief Executive Officer,
Investment Trends
16.20-17.00 // Adaptive leadership: the workforce of the future
This session will explore the near and long-term implications of AI adoption on job design and human productivity:
- The impact of AI tools on investment management and decision-making processes.
- Building the workforce of tomorrow: redesigning workforce structures, capabilities and leadership in AI-augmented environments.
- Positioning for change: robotics, agentic AI and the impact on growth, global demographics and capital returns.
Mike Daughton
General Manager – Technology,
NSW Treasury Corporation
17.00-18.00 // Networking reception, drinks and canapés