MIU - Issue 176 - April 2026

Issue 176 of the Market Integrity Update covers regulatory developments and issues affecting markets.

ASX Inquiry Panel Final Report published

ASIC has published the ASX Inquiry Panel’s (the Panel) Final Report into the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) group, marking an important milestone in ASIC’s work to strengthen Australia’s critical infrastructure.

It follows the external Panel’s nine-month analysis, focusing on governance, capability and risk management frameworks and practices across the ASX group.

The Inquiry process included:

• 140 stakeholder interviews
• review of over 10,000 documents
• input from seven external experts, focus groups on culture, and
• engagement with ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on a revised regulatory approach.

ASIC appreciates the significant work of the Panel and welcomes the Final Report.

The Final Report builds on the Panel’s Interim Report by providing more detail supporting the Panel’s recommendations – including a number of case study examples.

ASIC obtained commitments from ASX in December 2025 (25-303MR) and will closely oversee, along with the RBA, ASX’s implementation of these commitments. This includes a capital charge of $150 million in net tangible assets to be implemented by 30 June 2027 and ASX will hold this capital charge until the agreed work in the strategic reset is completed to ASIC’s satisfaction.

Whilst this program of work is underway, it is critical ASX continue to prioritise the safe and efficient operation of its infrastructure, meeting the day-to-day needs of the market.

This month, ASX successfully went live with Release 1 of CHESS Replacement, following many months of close supervisory oversight by ASIC in partnership with the RBA. This was followed by the first batch processing run completing successfully, with the first full T+2 cycle.

This is the first of two significant releases to fully replace CHESS, and it paves the way for the next phase focused on core settlement and sub‑register services, expected in 2029.

ASIC will continue to actively promote competition in trading, clearing and settlement, which has brought innovation, enhanced market efficiency and strengthened Australia’s attractiveness for listings and capital.

For more information regarding the Final Report’s key observations and next steps, read the supporting media release.

ASIC's roadmap for digital assets law reform implementation

ASIC has released its digital assets law reform roadmap for the next 18 months outlining how it will implement the Australian Government’s proposed law reforms and support an orderly transition for industry.

The roadmap sets out ASIC’s intended regulatory approach once new laws commence, including how existing regulatory frameworks will adapt to cover digital asset platforms, services and products.

The reforms aim to improve consumer protection and market integrity while supporting responsible innovation in Australia’s digital asset sector.

ASIC’s approach will be phased, with a strong focus on early engagement with industry, clear guidance, and practical transition arrangements.

Key priorities include licensing and supervision of digital asset service providers, custody arrangements, market integrity obligations, and how existing financial services and market infrastructure laws will apply in practice.

The roadmap also outlines how ASIC expects to work closely with Treasury and other regulators as the reforms progress, and how ASIC will use regulatory guidance and supervisory tools to help industry understand and meet their obligations.

We encourage market participants to engage early on various consultations and draft regulatory guidance, monitor regulatory developments, and begin assessing how the proposed reforms may affect their business models and compliance arrangements.

ASIC will develop any new standards and guidance in line with our broader regulatory simplification work. We expect the guidance will be principles-based, and additional guidance will only be provided where necessary. This may mean that not all issues can, or will be, addressed by our guidance.

Next steps include:

• arranging stakeholder roundtables and discussions, including through our regular Fintech Liaison Meetings and establishing an industry advisory group as announced in March 2026: see Shaping a stronger future for the Asia Pacific
• develop a consultation package on standards and guidance outlined above.

Stakeholders are also able to contact us by email at fintech@asic.gov.au.

You can read and view the roadmap implementation timeline on the ASIC website.

Are you ready for sustainability reporting?

ASIC and the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) will host a series of free in-person workshops in May to help companies prepare for the new mandatory sustainability reporting requirements.

The workshops provide a practical starting point for smaller and mid-size companies at the start of their sustainability reporting journey, particularly those preparing to commence reporting for financial years commencing on or after 1 July 2026.

They will be most relevant for preparers, finance teams and directors of entities.

This follows the release of ASIC’s Sustainability reporting educational modules on the core concepts underpinning the sustainability reporting requirements.

The requirements are part of ASIC’s efforts to support report preparers and advisors to build their understanding of sustainability concepts and to improve investor decision making.

Workshops will be held across Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, and will be delivered by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

To attend a workshop, please register your interest by clicking on the relevant link below.

Event details:

More information about the modules and workshops is available on ASIC’s website:

• ASIC and AASB team up to help smaller companies get ready for sustainability reporting (news item)
• Sustainability reporting educational modules.

ASIC consults on regulatory guide updates to implement financial market infrastructure reforms

ASIC is advancing the implementation of the Government’s financial market infrastructure (FMI) reforms through proposed updates to three regulatory guides, now open for consultation.

ASIC is seeking feedback from industry and interested stakeholders on proposed updates to:

• Regulatory Guide 172 Financial markets: Domestic and overseas operators (RG 172)
• Regulatory Guide 249 Derivative trade repositories (RG 249)
• Regulatory Guide 268 Licensing regime for financial benchmark administrators (RG 268)

The updates aim to align ASIC’s guidance with the strengthened and streamlined regulatory framework established by the FMI reforms which commenced in September 2024 (24-208MR).

FMI entities and market participants should review the proposed regulatory guide updates, consider whether existing governance, risk management and operational arrangements remain fit for purpose, and provide feedback to ASIC.

Early engagement will help entities prepare for the strengthened regime and reduce regulatory uncertainty.

Submissions should be sent to submissions-fmi.reforms@asic.gov.au by 5pm (AEST) on 25 May 2026.

Further information, including copies of the draft updated regulatory guides and how to make a submission, is available at available on the consultation webpage (CS 50).

Updates to OTC derivative clearing and reporting rules

Clearing entities should familiarise themselves with ASIC’s remade over-the-counter (OTC) derivative clearing rules. While the changes are minor, the updated rules now apply.

ASIC has remade the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Clearing), replacing the 2015 Clearing Rules, with a new 2026 version with only minor updates; ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Clearing) 2026 (2026 Clearing Rules). Minor amendments have also been made to the ASIC Derivative Trade Repository Rules 2023 (DTRRs).

The remade rules continue to support Australia’s central clearing framework for certain OTC interest rate derivative transactions and are largely unchanged from the existing settings.

The remake follows consultation under Simple Consultation 33 Proposed remake of the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Clearing) 2015 (CS 33), and focuses on keeping the rules current and fit for purpose. Most changes are administrative in nature and do not alter existing clearing obligations or introduce new compliance requirements for clearing entities.

One small policy refinement has been made. An existing exception for clearing derivatives has been extended so it now applies to all post‑trade risk-reduction exercises, rather than being limited to multilateral portfolio compression activities. This change provides greater clarity and consistency for participants using these risk‑reducing processes.

ASIC has also made a related amendment to ASIC Derivative Trade Repository Rules (Amendment) Instrument 2026/52 (Instrument 2026/52). This update makes minor consequential changes to references and definitions to reflect amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 following amendments made by the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Law Improvement Package No. 1) Act 2023.

For more information about the 2026 Clearing Rules, read the Explanatory Statement and visit ASIC’s central clearing of OTC derivatives webpage.

Further information about the DTRRs is available in the Explanatory Statement to Instrument 2026/52 and on ASIC’s derivative trade repositories webpage.

Enforcement outcomes

Over the last two months, the following enforcement outcomes were recorded:

Federal Court dismisses ASIC’s continuous disclosure case against Nuix

The Federal Court has dismissed ASIC’s case against intelligence software provider, Nuix Limited (Nuix).

The Court found Nuix did not breach its continuous disclosure obligations and did not mislead investors when reaffirming its financial forecasts in early 2021, following its initial public offering (IPO) in December 2020.

The Court also dismissed ASIC’s claims against the Nuix board for alleged breaches of their directors’ duties by failing to take reasonable steps to prevent Nuix from making misleading statements and breaching its continuous disclosure obligations.

For further detail and the judgment read the media release.

Former Big Un chief executive officer pleads guilty in insider trading case

Richard Evans (formerly Evertz), the former chief executive officer of collapsed ASX-listed technology company Big Un Limited (Big Un), has pleaded guilty to one charge of communicating inside information in the Sydney District Court.

Mr Evans communicated inside information about Big Un to a shareholder around 10 January 2017, when he ought reasonably to have known the shareholder would be likely to trade Big Un shares and options.

The trial has been vacated with a sentencing hearing set down for 21 August 2026.

The matter is being prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) (CDPP) following a referral from ASIC.

Since 2009, 46 people have been criminally convicted of insider trading following ASIC investigations, including senior executives and company chairs.

Read the supporting media release.

Binance Australia Derivatives ordered to pay $10 million penalty for onboarding failures

The Federal Court ordered Oztures Trading Pty Ltd (trading as Binance Australia Derivatives) (Binance) to pay a $10 million pecuniary penalty after misclassifying more than 85% of its Australian client base over a nine-month period, resulting in more than $12 million in losses and fees.

Binance is part of the Binance Group, the operator of the world’s largest digital crypto exchange by trading volume.

In a Statement of Agreed Facts, Binance admitted it exposed 524 retail investors to high-risk crypto derivative products without the required consumer protections between July 2022 to April 2023, due to their misclassification as wholesale clients.

The penalty comes in addition to approximately $13.1 million in compensation paid to the affected clients, which ASIC oversaw in 2023 (23-298MR).

Read the accompanying media release.

Supreme Court orders Macquarie Securities to pay $35 million penalty in short sale misreporting case

In March, the New South Wales Supreme Court ordered Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) to pay a $35 million penalty for multiple systems-related failures that caused the misreporting of tens of millions of short sales over several years.

The Court also found that MSAL engaged in misleading conduct in relation to its misreporting.

MSAL failed to correctly report at least 73 million short sales between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024. It is estimated that between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales were misreported during that period.

Short sale data plays a critical role in informing investors, regulators and governments about market sentiment and potential investment risks.

For further detail on the case and the Court’s orders, read the media release.