The Australian Securities and Investments (ob体育) today published its first assessment report about Australia Pacific Exchange Limited (APX).
It has also published its most recent assessment of Yieldbroker Pty Ltd.
The assessments are published as part of ob体育鈥檚 statutory requirement to conduct an assessment of how well licensed financial markets are complying with their obligations to supervise their markets.
APX
ob体育鈥檚 assessment of APX, whichhas operated a licensed financial market in securities since January 2005, considered whether APX has met all of its obligations as a market licensee, in addition to its obligation to supervise the market.
Taking into account the size of the APX market, ob体育 has concluded that APX has adequate arrangements for the supervision of its market, in accordance with its obligations under the Corporations Act.
As a market licensee, APX must have arrangements to deal with any real or potential conflicts of interest between its commercial interests and its obligation to supervise its market. APX currently has arrangements in place that are subject to independent oversight.
ob体育 has made some recommendations that are aimed at strengthening the existing conflict handling arrangements. In particular, ob体育 has suggested that in light of APX鈥檚 ongoing relationship with the Austock Group, APX should review and more fully document its arrangements where necessary.
鈥榦b体育 has concluded that APX is meeting its obligations, however, APX has acknowledged it has some issues to address as a result of the assessment process鈥�, Ms Tracey Lyons, ob体育鈥檚 Director of Markets Regulation, said.
鈥榃e will monitor APX to ensure that it makes the necessary improvements to continue to meet its obligations under the Corporations Act鈥�, Ms Lyons added.
ob体育 understands that APX will reduce its reliance on the resources of Austock Group as the market develops.
Further, APX has advised ob体育 that it will put new arrangements in place that do not rely on paper-based transfer of title, due to some delays in settling trades on the market, arising from administrative inefficiencies.
Yieldbroker Pty Ltd
ob体育 concluded that Yieldbroker, which operates a licensed financial market in corporate and semi-Government bonds, has adequate arrangements for the supervision of its market in accordance with its obligations under the Act.
The Yieldbroker and APX assessment reports are available from ob体育鈥檚 website at www.asic.gov.au.
Background
A financial market is defined as a facility through which offers to buy and sell financial products are regularly made. Anyone who operates a financial market in Australia must obtain a licence to do so, or otherwise be exempted by the Minister.
As part of the conditions of granting a licence to operate a financial market, the licensee must supervise the market in accordance with Part 7.2 of the Corporations Act.
Under the Corporations Act, ob体育 is required to conduct an assessment of how well licensed financial markets are complying with their obligations to supervise their markets. ob体育 must do this at least once per year in relation to each licensee. ob体育 can also assess how well a licensee is complying with its other obligations under the Act.
End of release
Download a copy of the reports:
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