Australia’s regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, (ASIC), has published its latest report on the supervision and surveillance of Australian financial markets and market participants.
It said that during the next six months it will conduct a thematic review of crossing systems – to assess how crossing system operators are meeting regulatory obligations.
The report, which covers the second half of 2014, highlights the key outcomes of ASIC’s market and participant supervision and market integrity enforcement teams.
Using the improved functionality of ASIC’s new market surveillance system, ‘Market Analysis and Intelligence’, a pinging strategy – that being the practice of using the placement of very small orders to test if there is liquidity – was identified in an ASX20 security trading in ASX Centre Point and Chi-X hidden public dark venues. After ASIC’s intervention, that ceased.
The report also outlines future areas of focus for ASIC, which includes the Market Entity Compliance System, which is intended to improve the way market participants and operators interact with the regulator.