New CHESS advisory group ‘won’t be railroaded’ by ASX
The independent chairman of the new advisory group overseeing ASX’s CHESS replacement, Alan Cameron, said it will not act as a rubber stamp for the market operator’s decisions on the new clearing and settlement system for the equity market.
He indicated the committee could potentially push the exchange to further delay its plans if it is not satisfied with material it will digest during a crunch period for the project in the first week of November.
Former ASIC chairman Alan Cameron: no shrinking violets in the advisory group. Tamara Voninski
At a parliamentary hearing on Friday morning, Mr Cameron, a former ASIC chairman, said his advisory committee of equity market experts will act independently as it advises ASX’s subsidiary boards on the exchange’s “grand plan”.
ASX wants to announce the design and the technology vendor in December, after setting a fourth-quarter calendar year deadline in May. But Mr Cameron warned his committee will not be pressured into making recommendations on the plan until it is provided with the full picture – which he wants by October 31.
“We’re not supposed to be, and we won’t be railroaded into making a decision,” he told the Parliamentary Joint Committee, Corporations and Financial Services on Friday. “We know the importance of making decisions quickly. But we will not make a decision until we have the information we need to make it.”
Mr Cameron’s committee has met once since ASX was forced by ASIC in late October to introduce additional oversight following concerns ASX could be repeating its past mistakes, which forced it to pause the CHESS replacement last November. He said it would take around 10 days to digest the ASX’s plans before it makes recommendations on whether the market is
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