The expected go-live date for the ASX’s CHESS replacement is expected to be pushed back beyond April next year after the project was hit by another delay.
In a project update issued on Monday, ASX said that the next software release for the CHESS replacement would be delivered in July this year rather than next month as originally planned.
“At this time, ASX advises that there is a strong likelihood of delay to the go-live date. We will engage with our technology providers and stakeholders to assess the impact,” ASX COO Tim Hogben said.
Accreditation using the new software is now expected to commence in July and August, followed by CHESS user testing.
Additionally, ASX said that “migration dress rehearsals” planned for October this year have also been delayed until an unspecified later date.
“We recognise the impact these changes will have on our customers’ programming activities and apologise for the inconvenience,” said Mr Hogben.
“We will be actively working with all stakeholders to assess the flow-on impacts of these schedule changes to project milestones, industry testing, operational readiness, migration dress rehearsals and implementation (go-live).”
The project was initially expected to be complete as early as Q4 2020, before being hit by multiple setbacks including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In its half-yearly results last month, ASX reported that the CHESS replacement was still on track to go live in April next year as previously announced.
Mr Hogben said that ASX was confident in the project’s delivery, testing and industry participation, but also acknowledged its complexity and risk management requirements alongside the need for comprehensive industry testing, integration and operational readiness.
“We remain committed to meeting industry and stakeholder expectations of implementing the new system in a manner that appropriately balances efficiency and safety,” he said.
“CHESS replacement is an ongoing process with the industry, and industry engagement will be even more important as we move into the CHESS user testing environment and operational readiness activities, and as we agree an approach that ensures utmost confidence in a safe, secure and performant system at go-live.”
Last year, ASIC imposed additional licence conditions on ASX following the market outage that occurred in November 2020.
“The ASX outage was a very serious event, exacerbated by subsequent operational issues,” ASIC chair Joe Longo said at the time.
“The imposition of these licence conditions will confirm that remedial actions are implemented appropriately and efficiently to address these operational issues – including for the critical rollout of the CHESS Replacement Program.”
