ASX seeks new technology head for future improvements

To move its offerings to the next stage of their development, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has revealed it is searching for a new head of group executive technology, with an appointment to be made by the middle of the year.

To move its offerings to the next stage of their development, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has revealed it is searching for a new head of group executive technology, with an appointment to be made by the middle of the year.

The decision comes as ASX continues to upgrade its technology to deal with the arrival of competition from rival operator Chi-X Australia, which launched on 31 October 2011. Jeff Olsson, current group executive of technology, will leave ASX in July 2012 after 15 years at the exchange.

“Jeff will continue to lead the technology team over the coming months and will finalise the delivery of the company’s new data centre, which will open next month,” said Elmer Funke Kupper, chief executive of ASX. “We wish Jeff well in his future endeavours.”

In addition to the new data centre, ASX has embraced a three-platform strategy with the introduction of PureMatch, a dedicated venue for high-frequency trading with a latency of 300 microseconds and a capacity of 100,000 orders per second; VolumeMatch, a block trading venue with a minimum order size of A$1 million; and TradeMatch, a platform that caters for the bourse’s traditional customers.

The exchange has also lowered its trade execution fees, reviewed its clearing and settlement tariffs and introduced new order types designed to reduce market impact, as well as invested heavily in a new connectivity infrastructure in recognition of brokers’ best execution requirements.

For the month of December 2011, Chi-X Australia had 0.67% market share, while ASX had 99.31%, according to figures provided by Thomson Reuters.

 

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