New ASX Boss Attia Wants to Accelerate Move to One-Day Settlement in Australia
New ASX CEO Anthony Attia said on Wednesday, October 14, that he wants to expedite the transition to one-day cash equity trading settlement (T+1), bringing Australia in line with the United States as well as European and Hong Kong exchanges, which plan the move next year.
ASX considered shifting to trading-plus-one-day from T+2 in 2024 but shelved the idea after market participants said it was more important to focus on its A$445 million (US$311.54 million) technology overhaul, following a series of outages, settlement delays and other glitches that led to a reprimand and a regulatory fine. The final upgrade of the clearing and settlement system, known as CHESS, is not due to be finished until 2029, but Attia said a faster settlement period could be introduced beforehand.
"I think it's too late. So I'm very willing to engage with the market to bring that forward," Attia said in an interview on Wednesday, adding he plans to start consulting with regulators and market participants. "We don't have any reason to keep T+3 or T+2 today." The US has had T+1 for two years; the London and Euronext exchanges plan to switch in October next year, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plans the move in the fourth quarter of 2027. Australia's cash equity trades have settled on a two-day basis in CHESS since 2016.
Faster settlement is just one of the initiatives Attia, only six weeks into the role, has in mind to increase ASX's competitiveness and restore its reputation. "The ASX has a lot of work to do to become a best-in-class competing exchange," Attia said. The French exchange executive spent nearly three decades at pan-European market operator Euronext before replacing former CEO Helen Lofthouse. He took the job following one of ASX's most challenging periods, marked by intense scrutiny from regulators and investors stemming from CHESS upgrade delays and cost blowouts as well as outages. ASX's share price closed the financial year ended June 30 down 23.6%. A nine-month regulatory investigation found ASX had prioritised shareholder returns and failed to invest adequately in infrastructure, which "compromised the success of Australia's financial markets."
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：澳交所（ASX）位于悉尼马丁广场39号的办公大楼。摄影：Klauskazamias，CC0 授权，来源：Wikimedia Commons
