The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is seeking to rebuild stakeholder trust by increasing transparency around its CHESS replacement project, which was abandoned in November 2020 due to technical, scalability, and project management issues.
ASX CEO and managing director Helen Lofthouse said during a parliamentary committee that market participants felt they were not being listened to during consultations, which damaged trust. Lofthouse acknowledged the need to lift transparency around the project and admitted that it would take time to rebuild trust and confidence.
Since the project was paused, ASX has been reassessing its solution design, and has established a CHESS replacement technical committee and industry forum, as well as a partnership program with up to AUD 70m ($53.6m) in incentives.
The exchange has selected Tim Whiteley as its new CHESS replacement project director. ASX is now implementing an action plan to address the 45 recommendations contained in an external Accenture review of the project, and will announce its new solution design roadmap in December. The exchange still intends to replace the CHESS system, but with a new approach.