Food for thought and CE from Portfolio Construction Forum

These tutorials relate to the IMAC 2026 lectures and are available to CIMA candidates enrolled in the CIMA Certification Asia Pacific Program 2026.

The market has entered an unusual phase. Growth is still relatively strong. Earnings remain supportive. AI investment remains powerful. The hurdle rate for almost every investment is rising. This is not yet a conventional risk-off environment. It is a repricing of what capital is worth.

CIMA Society membership gives you access to multiple sources of quality "approved" CIMA CE hours that are stored in your Forum MyCE and reported automatically to IWI on your behalf – and CIMA Society pays any applicable reporting fee.

AI remains one of the strongest investment cycles in the global economy. That strength is precisely why the macro consequences are becoming more important. AI is becoming a macro cycle because it is large enough to influence growth, inflation, labour, energy and the price of capital simultaneously.

Food for thought and CE from Portfolio Construction Forum

When making decisions, we all look at past outcomes as one input. This paper questions the appropriateness of the common methods of measuring investment manager performance and suggests we should focus on measures that are of more relevance to actual investor outcomes.

The AI revolution may ultimately create abundance. The current investment regime is being defined by the scarcity encountered while building it. The next phase of the cycle will be determined by which assets own productive capacity and which assets can finance it.

Your CIMA Society Member benefits include complimentary registration to attend five programs via Live Stream (value A$740+GST) so you can engage with your peers and earn up to 30 CE hours over the year.

This session first considered how practitioners can apply multi-lens analysis via AI to decide their key takeouts and next steps from Strategies Summit 2026. Then, our Practitioner Panel discussed which high conviction thesis they heard at Strategies Summit they would investigate further, why, and how.

The investment regime is becoming less about forecasting one central-bank decision and more about understanding who is competing for capital, what return they are offering and whether the resulting cost is sustainable. That changes portfolio construction.

The purpose of investing is not simply to accumulate wealth. The real "prize" is financial wellbeing. As Yogi Berra famously observed: "If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else." Eyes on the prize! Strategies Summit 2026 (Wed 19 Aug) will challenge and refresh your portfolio construction thinking through robust debate of contemporary and emerging strategies to help you build better quality portfolios.

Over the past three decades, geopolitical fragmentation, technological disruption, fiscal expansion, energy security concerns and changing market structures – and now, the infusion of AI into every aspect of society – have altered the very foundations on which portfolios have been built. In short, the macro environment that shaped portfolio construction no longer exists.

By understanding the investment behaviours of stock market "maestros", practitioners can identify highly skilled fund managers and improve their own portfolio construction decisions, better equipping them to deliver the ultimate "prize" for clients - financial wellbeing.

Portfolio construction must evolve to reflect a structurally different world. Traditional diversification assumptions and portfolio frameworks which may not fully capture the risks to which portfolios are actually exposed - or take advantage of emerging asset class opportunities that the structurally different world is exposing.
How can practitioners construct multi-asset, multi-manager investment (MAMMI) portfolios which are greater than the sum of their parts and improve the financial wellbeing of individuals?

Supported by durable long-term growth trends and a history of low correlation to traditional markets, the full SME opportunity is too compelling for investors to ignore.

Portfolio construction must evolve to reflect a structurally different world. Traditional diversification assumptions and portfolio frameworks which may not fully capture the risks to which portfolios are actually exposed - or take advantage of emerging asset class opportunities that the structurally different world is exposing.
How can practitioners construct multi-asset, multi-manager investment (MAMMI) portfolios which are greater than the sum of their parts and improve the financial wellbeing of individuals?

Portfolio construction must evolve to reflect a structurally different world. Traditional diversification assumptions and portfolio frameworks which may not fully capture the risks to which portfolios are actually exposed - or take advantage of emerging asset class opportunities that the structurally different world is exposing.
How can practitioners construct multi-asset, multi-manager investment (MAMMI) portfolios which are greater than the sum of their parts and improve the financial wellbeing of individuals?

Established in 2002, Strategies Summit is THE portfolio construction strategies conference of the year. Presented each August, the program features 50+ carefully selected leading investment thinkers who will challenge and refresh your portfolio construction thinking by debating contemporary and emerging portfolio construction strategies, for you to consider applying in practice to build better quality portfolios.

Markets returned to record highs during the past week, but the most important development was not in equities. It was in the bond market. For much of the post-financial-crisis period, central banks were the dominant influence on the cost of capital. Increasingly, the bond market is reclaiming that role.