The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has revealed that 91 percent of the Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) users can meet the revised go-live date for CHESS replacement of April 2022, according to a consultation paper.
ASX will now review the feedback submitted from the four-week consultation and follow up with some CHESS users on points of detail they raised in order to meet the new timetable.
ASX received 88 submissions, which represented 92 percent of the 96 CHESS users. Those who have not been able to confirm readiness have asked for more information on particular issues, which ASX will assist within the near-term.
The new proposed deadline remains subject to a detailed review of all submissions and any other relevant considerations before being finalised by ASX.
Meanwhile, ASX is following up with CHESS users that haven’t responded to ensure as much input as possible is received.
ASX explained that CHESS users are those organisations that plan to connect to the new system, including clearing and settlement participants, product issuer settlement participants, approved market operators, back-office software developers, payment providers and share registries.
ASX will publish its response and a summary of the feedback once all submissions have been reviewed.
Additionally, the exchange will engage with the regulatory agencies on the revised project timetable prior to its public release.
Dominic Stevens, ASX managing director and CEO, commented: “We appreciate the input and responses we’ve received from the market – not just for this consultation but for the CHESS replacement project overall. The project has taken on even greater significance in recent months, with the accelerating need for more innovation, digitisation and straight-through processing of transactions and corporate actions.”
He continued: “The CHESS replacement project has involved the most interaction ASX has ever undertaken with the market. We’re grateful that so many CHESS users have responded constructively to this consultation. This provides us with a sound starting point as we now carefully consider all submissions.”
“While recognising there is still much for everyone to do, we are excited by the fact we are close to 100 percent complete on customer functionality and set to move into industry-wide testing in the coming months,” Stevens added.
