APRA released the Information Paper: Findings from APRAs superannuation thematic review in October 2021. The review has a focus on Australian superannuation funds governance, particularly the valuation practice of their unlisted assets during the extreme market volatility in the first half of 2020. The review finds that super funds generally reacted promptly in March and April 2020 (the onset of the pandemic when the global financial market took a substantial hit) to revalue their portfolio of unlisted assets (such as properties, infrastructure and private equity investment) to reflect current market conditions in fund unit prices. Several issues were identified that may have resulted in member equity problems, among which the review finds that it was a common practice for super funds to use the conflicted process in revaluation. For example, many super funds didnt have an adequate valuation policy and procedure in place for unlisted assets. They routinely accepted the valuation by their managers without challenging the appropriateness of such valuations, and Chief Investment Officer often chaired the Valuation Committee (which is part of the trustee board).

Using the information provided above, discuss how the conflicted valuation process of unlisted assets might cause member equity issue within super funds, given the characteristics of the unlisted assets and the compensation structure of the fund managers.