ASIC has announced a “transformational package” of reforms for the ASX following an inquiry into the market operator.The inquiry was first announced in June 2025 and identified shortcomings in ASX’s governance, capability, risk management and culture that required urgent attention and response.
It involved 140 stakeholder interviews, written submissions, international benchmarking with similar entities, focus groups with ASX staff, and a review of nearly 10,000 documents.
“The report found, while some progress has been made, more of the same is not an option. The scale of transformation required is significant and cannot be achieved through current tactical, incremental measures or business as usual,” ASIC said.
Problems including a focus on short-term financial performance and shareholder returns that compromised its obligations to operate critical national market infrastructure, a lack of vision necessary for the ASX’s critical role and governance structures that do not ensure the independence of its Clearing and Settlement subsidiaries and their required levels of investment.
As a result, the planned reforms include:
• Strengthening the independence and governance of ASX’s Clearing and Settlement Facilities Boards
• A strategic reset of ASX’s transformation program ‘Accelerate’, with clear milestones and accountability for delivery
• The imposition of an additional $150 million capital charge on ASX Limited to ensure ASX maintains robust financial resources until remediation is complete
• A commitment to stronger leadership
• ASIC and the RBA will step up their review to uplift their joint supervisory model.
ASIC chair Joe Longo said: “ASX needs to embrace a new era of accountability, investment, and stewardship to increase confidence, and meet the expectations of the market and the Australian public.
“This package is a circuit-breaker.
“Many of the problems the report identifies took years to develop, and while there are some immediate actions that will be put in place, the key issues are going to take time and resources to resolve. There are no quick fixes or shortcuts.
“This reset is about addressing underlying issues, and laying the foundations for a resilient, world-class market operator.”
Commenting, ASX chief executive, Helen Lofthouse, said: “There is no doubt this is a tough report. It has placed ASX under a critical lens and the assessment from the Panel is that we must get better. We’re driving that process now and it is clear we will need to lift leadership at all levels to deliver.
“We are aligned with the report on the need to transform and that has been the driving force behind our strategy, including our significant investment in technology modernisation. This reset gives us further impetus to bring about deep and lasting change.
“These actions should be a clear signal to the market that ASX is committed to delivering the transformation necessary for resilient and future-ready critical market infrastructure.”
A final report is due to be published by the panel on 27 February 2026.
Earlier this month, the ASX suffered an outage on its announcements page which affected 80 companies and unsettled investors. It was not until 6.45pm that the ASX said it had “largely resolved” the problem, around nine hours after the initial outage, and it was still working through non-price sensitive announcements lodged prior to 11.22am.
Responding to the outage at the time, Ten Cap founder Jun Bei Liu said work was needed by the ASX to resolve its problems.
“They need to admit the mistake, move on, and then reinvest in the business, like proper reinvestment into the business to change the culture. It might take a three-year transformation, but they need to do that,” she said.
In August, the ASX incorrectly tagged TPG Telecom in a price-sensitive announcement about a $645 million takeover deal for Infomedia, accidentally wiping $400 million from TPG’s share price.
