Assessment of ASX Clearing and Settlement Facilities – September 2026 1. Overview of Ratings, Recommendations and Areas of Supervisory Focus

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has carried out its annual assessment of the ASX clearing and settlement (CS) facilities over the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. The assessment covers the four licensed CS facilities in the ASX Group (ASX): two central counterparties (CCPs) – ASX Clear and ASX Clear (Futures); and two securities settlement facilities (SSFs) – ASX Settlement and Austraclear.

The RBA’s assessment of the ASX CCPs and SSFs has been undertaken against the applicable Financial Stability Standards (FSS),¹ as well as the CS facilities’ more general obligation to do all other things necessary to reduce systemic risk. The RBA has conducted this assessment in accordance with its Approach to Supervising and Assessing Clearing and Settlement Facility Licensees.²

1.1 Ratings

The ratings for the current assessment period are set out in Table 1 below.

1.2 Recommendations

The RBA makes recommendations to the ASX CS facilities to address issues identified through its assessments against the FSS. In recent years, these recommendations have focused on governance, risk management frameworks, operational resilience and financial risk management.

During the assessment period, ASIC and the RBA expedited their ongoing review of the joint supervisory approach for the ASX CS facilities. This included a re-evaluation of outstanding regulatory actions and recommendations. As at the time of that re-evaluation, a number of recommendations made in RBA assessments from previous years remained outstanding. These outstanding recommendations have been consolidated into the ASX Transformation Portfolio and other programs of work. The ASX Transformation Portfolio and other major programs will be subject to robust independent assurance.

The RBA has not made new recommendations in this assessment. Instead, it has stated the outcomes ASX must achieve through the Transformation Portfolio and other existing programs. This approach is intended to focus ASX more directly on whether its work addresses the underlying risks and delivers the required outcomes. ASX remains responsible for ensuring that these initiatives are appropriately designed, implemented and embedded to meet their objectives.

1.3. Areas of supervisory focus

During the next assessment period, the RBA will maintain heightened supervisory attention on areas where ASX must deliver sustained improvements.

Governance and independence of the CS facilities

The RBA will assess whether ASX’s governance changes strengthen the independence of the CS facilities. This will include assessing whether the CS Boards and the Managing Director, Clearing and Settlement (MD CS) have sufficient information, authority and influence to ensure that the interests and the obligations of the CS facilities are prioritised appropriately. Critically, the RBA will be examining any circumstances where the interests and obligations of the CS facilities, including obligations in relation to Australia’s financial stability and other public interest obligations, may be inconsistent with ASX Group priorities and short-term financial considerations.

Operational and cyber resilience

The RBA will continue to focus on whether each CS facility can maintain critical operations and services during severe and prolonged disruptions. This will include monitoring whether ASX’s work on operational resilience improves the continuity of critical services. Cyber resilience will remain a supervisory priority, reflecting the heightened cyber threat environment facing ASX as an operator of critical financial market infrastructure.

Financial risk management

The RBA will assess whether ASX has made sustainable improvements to its financial risk management frameworks and controls. This includes whether model validation, data controls and periodic reviews identify and prevent errors in key model inputs. The RBA will also monitor the implementation of changes to ASX Clear (Futures)’ default fund methodology and credit stress-testing review framework.

Transformation

The RBA will closely supervise delivery of the ASX Transformation Portfolio. This includes whether the transformation is delivering sustained improvement in ASX’s governance, capability, culture and risk management. The RBA will also focus on ASX’s management of the cumulative risks arising from concurrent transformation and technology initiatives. This includes the sequencing and resourcing of CHESS Replacement Release 2, ClearStar and other major initiatives while protecting critical day-to-day operations.

Footnotes

1 For the current standards and further information, see RBA (2024), ‘Clearing and Settlement Facilities: Financial Stability Standards’.

2 RBA (2025), ‘The Reserve Bank’s Approach to Supervising and Assessing Clearing and Settlement Facility Licensees’, 5 September.