Australian Securities & Investments Commission launches Inquiry into ASX governance capability and risk management

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has launched an Inquiry into the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) group, focusing on governance, capability and risk management frameworks and practices across the group. The move follows ongoing concerns from ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) about ASX’s ability to maintain stable, secure and resilient critical market infrastructure, and ASIC said it was prompted by repeated and serious failures at ASX. An expert panel will lead the Inquiry, make recommendations to address any identified deficiencies, and ASIC will publish an outcome report to inform any next steps. The Inquiry will use ASIC’s existing powers under sections 794C and 823C of the Corporations Act 2001 to assess ASX’s compliance with its obligations as a market licensee and as a clearing and settlement facility licensee, and may also draw on additional powers under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Act 2024. ASIC will discontinue its separate investigation into the 20 December 2024 CHESS Batch Settlement failure, with the incident to be considered as part of the broader Inquiry; ASIC’s expert technical review of CHESS announced on 31 March 2025 will continue alongside it. In March 2025, ASIC and the RBA wrote jointly to ASX flagging increasing concern over operational risk management following the CHESS batch settlement failure. The panel’s composition will be announced in the coming weeks and will be supported by an ASIC secretariat expected to include secondees from the RBA, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. ASIC also said ASX should continue prioritising the safe and efficient operation of its infrastructure, including progress toward Release 1 of the CHESS replacement project in mid-2026.