On Monday, ASIC provided an update into the review reporting that the independent expert, IBM Australia Limited, noted “factors that suggested the ASX Trade system was not ready to go-live... even though the formal implementation readiness processes were completed and verified by multiple parties without objection to go-live”.
The outage occurred on 16 November 2020 shortly after a major upgrade to ASX’s equity trading platform.
IBM also suggested there were “gaps in the rigour applied to the project delivery risk” and that “risk and issue management, project compliance to ASX practices, project requirements and the project test strategy/planning did not meet accepted industry practices”.
“The independent expert found that ASX met or exceeded leading industry practices in most areas, but the conclusion that the project was not ready for go-live is very disappointing,” ASIC chair, Joe Longo, said.
“ASX has acknowledged and accepted the need for improvement. We do, however, require assurance that these improvements are implemented effectively and result in an overall improvement to ASX’s enterprise wide project management practices.”
ASIC confirmed it is also undertaking a separate investigation to determine whether ASX met its obligations under its Australian market licence, which is ongoing.
Neil Griffiths
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
