The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) welcomes the release today by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of its annual assessment of compliance by the ASX group with its statutory obligations.
For the sixth consecutive year since the legislative introduction of these assessments, ASIC has concluded that ASX has adequate arrangements in place to supervise its markets and its clearing and settlement facilities, and that those arrangements are adequately resourced.
ASIC is also satisfied that ASX is adequately managing conflicts between its commercial interests and the need to ensure fair, orderly and transparent markets, and fair and effective clearing and settlement facilities.
For the first time, ASIC assessed all six ASX group licensees in one integrated review. The review covers the period 1 July 2006 to 30 March 2008.
ASX and ASIC have also agreed to a set of actions including the refining of certain documents and procedures, and the reporting of supervisory resources. These actions have either been taken already or are well underway as part of ASX’s own program of ongoing improvement.
ASX is committed to maintaining robust conflict handling arrangements and high quality supervision. ASX will work with ASIC on the development and implementation of additional benchmarks for market supervision. These benchmarks will be in place for the 2009-10 assessment period.
The full ASIC assessment report is available via: www.asic.gov.au