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ASIC Imposes A$150 Million Capital Charge on ASX After Inquiry Finds Governance Failures

ASX will cut dividends to fund the new buffer.

Overview

  • An ASIC-appointed expert panel found ASX prioritized shareholder returns over resilient operations, citing governance, risk management and cultural weaknesses after about 140 stakeholder interviews.
  • ASX must accumulate the extra A$150 million by June 30, 2027 and hold it until ASIC approves milestone delivery under the reset remediation program, which ASIC chair Joe Longo described as a circuit-breaker.
  • ASIC will reset ASX’s Accelerate program with new targets and benchmarking agreed with the Reserve Bank of Australia to address operational risk and technology shortfalls.
  • Boards governing key clearing and settlement entities will be comprised solely of independent directors who are not part of ASX Limited.
  • ASIC and the RBA will uplift their joint supervisory model over ASX, while the company’s shares fell more than 5% after it signaled lower dividends to build the required capital.