The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) welcomes the release today of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) annual assessment of compliance by ASX’s licensed clearing and settlement (CS) facilities with their relevant statutory obligations.
The RBA has found that all four CS facilities operated by ASX complied with the relevant Financial Stability Standards and did all other things necessary to reduce systemic risk over the year to end-June 2009.
The assessment covers the performance of ASX’s two central counterparties – the Australian Clearing House (ACH) and SFE Clearing Corporation (SFECC) – and its two securities settlement facilities – ASX Settlement and Transfer Corporation (ASTC) and Austraclear.
The RBA acknowledges that the assessment period was “characterised by heightened volatility in financial markets” and that “all four licensed CS facilities were resilient to the turbulent market conditions”.
The assessment examined the response of ASX’s CS facilities to the challenges posed by market volatility – such as refinements to risk management and operational processes - and has identified areas for further consideration by ASX over the period ahead. ASX and RBA are already in dialogue about all these matters.
The RBA’s assessment of ASX’s CS facilities is available on the RBA website http://www.rba.gov.au/MediaReleases/2009/mr-09-20.html under the heading 2008/09 Assessment of Clearing and Settlement Facilities.