ASX welcomes the release of ASIC’s capital markets roadmap, which outlines a forward-looking agenda to strengthen Australia’s capital markets and ensure Australia continues to be an efficient, attractive and globally competitive market to invest.
Australia’s public markets play a foundational role in capital formation, price discovery and wealth creation. ASX supports ASIC’s commitment to maintaining robust and transparent markets. ASIC’s roadmap recognises that there is a need to continually evolve regulatory settings to meet the changing needs of issuers and investors.
Darren Yip, Group Executive, Markets and Listings, ASX, said:
“ASIC’s roadmap is a timely and important step in ensuring Australia’s public markets remain globally competitive. We welcome ASIC’s focus on practical reforms that will support innovation, improve access to capital, and ensure our markets continue to deliver for companies and investors.
“It’s encouraging to see ASIC take forward a number of ideas raised in ASX’s submission, to ensure Australia remains a globally competitive place to list, including streamlining IPO processes, reviewing listing requirements, and exploring new frameworks to support market integrity and growth.
“We also remain supportive of competition that contributes to strong and effective capital markets in Australia. We have a strong value proposition for corporate listings and our listings business competes with many other local, regional and global exchanges and continues to offer one of the world’s leading listings venues with over 2,000 listed entities.”
ASIC has stated that it is open to reconsider the potential of dual class shares where careful consideration of the merits and risks are undertaken and appropriate safeguards are proposed. ASIC has also stated that it sees merit in non-discretionary trading plans for company insiders and will continue to engage on the idea. ASX supports further discussion on these topics, consistent with global developments.
ASX also welcomes ASIC’s recognition of the importance of simplifying corporate governance frameworks. Last month, ASX announced that it would take responsibility for future editions of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and
Recommendations, supported by a newly established independent advisory group. This forms part of a broader program of work underway at ASX, including recent consultation on proposed changes to the Listing Rules relating to shareholder approvals and dual-listed entities.
