LA Private

ASX Faces Scrutiny at Annual Meeting

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is holding its annual general meeting in Sydney, where the board is addressing shareholders amidst a period of heightened scrutiny. The company, which operates Australia’s primary stock exchange, has faced operational and regulatory challenges. The board faced a potential second strike regarding its remuneration report but is expected to avoid it after revising executive bonuses to reflect accountability for recent issues.

Chairman David Clarke acknowledged the difficulties of the past year, stating, “There is no doubt this has been a difficult year for ASX.” He noted that while progress has been made, confidence in the organisation has been tested. Clarke emphasized that ASX operates critical market infrastructure, leading to justifiably high expectations from stakeholders. He highlighted concerns raised by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regarding the response to an equity market outage and a challenging review of governance standards by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Clarke assured shareholders that the board and management are committed to addressing these concerns. He said that the regulatory developments are being taken very seriously. ASX also confirmed its expense growth forecast for the financial year remains between 14 per cent and 19 per cent. Core expenses, excluding costs related to the ASIC inquiry, are expected to be towards the upper end of the 8 per cent to 11 per cent range for total expenses.

This increase is primarily attributed to a program called Accelerate, which aims to enhance operational risk management and resilience within the organisation. The ASX is the primary securities exchange in Australia. The company also provides clearing and settlement services for the Australian financial markets.