Welcome to Bankers’ Boot Camp 2025–26

Wednesday, 11 March
9am AEDT | 8am AEST 

Retail 2026 sits at a critical inflection point. As ASX retailers report H1 results, earnings momentum looks encouraging, but the real story lies beneath the numbers. In this session, Craig Woolford (MST Marquee) will unpack what the results and forecasts are telling us about growth, margins and valuation in FY26, while Wi Liem Chua (National Retail & Consumer Industry Lead Grant Thornton Australia) brings the inside view from retailer leadership teams, where cost structures are being reset, ranges rationalised, digital investments sharpened and boards wrestle with the margin-versus-price trade-off. Together, our experts will explore where market optimism meets execution reality and what that means for capital, risk and opportunity across the retail sector. 

Speakers: 

• Wi Liem Chua – Partner & National Retail & Consumer Industry Lead at Grant Thornton Australia
• Craig Woolford – Senior Analyst, Consumer Sector at MST Marquee 
  
  

Wednesday, 11 March
10am AEDT | 9am AEST 

The Australian insolvency, restructuring and turnaround landscape has continued to provide twists and turns over the past 12 months, with higher interest rates, persistent cost pressures and uneven demand across sectors continuing to reshape the risk landscape. Drawing on our experts’ experience, this session will provide an update on the key trends influencing the market today and unpack what this means for lenders. Key topics will include how distress is presenting, corporate failure patterns, regulator activity, industry hot spots and general market observations. This session aims to equip lenders with a sharp understanding of the dynamics influencing borrower distress, restructuring pathways, and recovery outcomes to equip both frontline and credit teams with timely insights to support risk assessment, early engagement, and effective decision‑making. 
 
Across this session, participants will gain: 

• A current snapshot of Australia’s restructuring and insolvency landscape 
• Regulatory insights, including ATO activity, ASIC oversight, and evolving expectations for lenders and insolvency practitioners 
• Updates on legal developments affecting secured lenders, restructuring processes, and enforcement practices 
• Market behaviour observations; and 
• Practical takeaways for banking teams for the year ahead.

Facilitator:

• Matt Byrnes –  Partner & National Head of Restructuring Advisory at Grant Thornton Australia 

Panelists:

• Tianne Nagy-Jones – Director, Financial Advisory at Grant Thornton Australia 
• Natasha Taholka – Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
• Hoda Solaymani-Jamal, Special Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
  
  

Wednesday, 11 March
11am AEDT | 10am AEST 

Australia’s manufacturing, transport, and logistics sectors form the backbone of the nation’s economic productivity, enabling goods to move efficiently from production through to domestic and international markets. 

Conditions for Australian manufacturers have tightened over the last 12-18 months. While many manufacturers were able to strengthen their balance sheet in the years immediately post Covid, trading performance in 2025 was challenging for many businesses. Energy costs, rents, and wages are impacting margins, while ongoing cost-of-living pressures and the threat of further interest rate increases are likely to further impact consumer demand. Hear from industry specialists as they share the latest trends and insights, highlighting what your customers need to be mindful of in the sector. What does a good manufacturing customer look like? The first part of this session includes a presentation of Grant Thornton’s 2025 manufacturing benchmarking data, drawing on the audited financial results of 100 listed and private mid-sized manufacturers. 

This session will also examine the transport & logistics sector, often closely aligned with manufacturing, but with broader implications for Australian business including those in import / export and distribution. The country’s supply chain networks – spanning road, rail, air, and maritime freight – have undergone significant transformation in response to global disruptions, e‑commerce growth, and rising expectations for faster, more resilient delivery solutions. Our sector specialists will discuss the challenges and opportunities for the bank’s customers in the year ahead. 

Facilitator:

• Matt Byrnes – Partner & National Head of Restructuring Advisory at Grant Thornton Australia 

Panelists:

• Michael Climpson – Partner & National Head of Manufacturing at Grant Thornton Australia
• Peter Glynn​ – Partner, Audit & Assurance at Grant Thornton Australia