Australian Securities & Investments Commission secures AUD 20.5 million penalty against ASX over misleading CHESS replacement update

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission announced that the Federal Court has ordered ASX Limited to pay an AUD 20.5 million penalty for a misleading market announcement about the progress of its CHESS replacement project. The case followed ASX’s admission that its 10 February 2022 statement that the project was “progressing well” was misleading and exposed market participants to the risk of financial harm. The court also ordered ASX to pay AUD 3 million toward ASIC’s costs. In her reasons, Justice Markovic said ASX’s role as operator of critical market infrastructure meant it should have set a benchmark for accuracy and transparency in its disclosures, and that significant penalties were needed to deter other listed entities from making misleading announcements about major projects. ASIC had commenced civil penalty proceedings in August 2024, and ASX admitted in June 2026 that the statement contravened sections 12DA and 12DB(1)(a) and (e) of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001. The CHESS replacement project, which was intended to replace ASX’s Clearing House Electronic Subregister System with a distributed ledger technology-based system, had been due to go live in April 2023. About six weeks after the “progressing well” statement, ASX announced a strong likelihood of delay, later paused the project in November 2022 and derecognised about AUD 245 million to AUD 255 million in pre-tax project costs.