A report commissioned by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), says that the costs of post-trading services in Australia are in line with costs of similar services provided in other financial centres.
ASX had commissioned economics consultancy Oxera to provide a report on the cost benchmarking of cash equity clearing and settlement services report, in order to compare Australia against the costs of using the services provided by financial market infrastructure providers elsewhere.
The Oxera report said that there is a high level of transparency around the pricing, financial performance and
international benchmarking of ASX’s cash equity market post-trade services.
According to ASX’s financial statements, the annual cost to the Australian economy of cash equities clearing is A$42 million and for settlement, A$40 million.
ASX is required to undertake global cost benchmarking under its Code of Practice. That Code was introduced in August 2013, following a Government announcement in February 2013 to defer a decision on any licence application from a central counterparty seeking to offer cash equities clearing services in Australia. That applies for a period of two years.
ASX’s said that its other commitments under the Code of Practice have already been put in place. They include providing transparent and non-discriminatory access to its cash equities clearing and settlement services and the creation of an advisory forum comprising senior customer and industry stakeholders.