Released 30 October 2026. Comments close 4 December 2026.
Regulatory Guide 172 Financial markets: Domestic and overseas operators (RG 172) provides guidance to market licensees on how they can comply with their regulatory obligations, including requirements to have sufficient financial resources to operate the market venue properly (the financial resources requirements).
Strong and resilient financial markets are fundamental to the effective operation of Australia’s financial system. Financial market operators play a critical role in supporting fair, orderly and transparent markets. Maintaining sufficient financial resources is fundamental to their ability to manage periods of stress, respond to changing risks and continue providing important market services.
ASIC’s Inquiry into ASX reinforced the importance of resilience for critical market infrastructure. The process also raised the need for clearer guidance on the amount and form of financial resources that market licensees should hold. In December 2025, in addition to a capital charge, ASX committed to holding sufficient net tangible assets to meet its financial resource requirements for its market licences by 30 June 2029: see Media Release 25-303MR ASIC announces transformational package to safeguard Australia’s financial markets in response to ASX Inquiry interim report (15 December 2025).
We confirmed we would review ASIC’s regulatory guidance for market licensees’ financial resource requirements: see 25-303MR. This consultation sets out the outcomes of ASIC’s review. While RG 172 has provided a sound foundation for many years, we have found inconsistencies with its application in practice. By providing clearer guidance through updates to RG 172, we aim to ensure the financial resources held by licensees better reflect the financial resilience expected of today’s market licensees. The updates provide greater depth and detail of ASIC’s expectations on market licensee financial resource requirements, bringing the guidance more in line with that provided by other domestic and international regulators. This is consistent with supporting effective, resilient and innovative market operations, which is one of ASIC’s strategic priorities.
We have retained the existing guidance for market licensees to hold sufficient financial resources to cover at least six months of operating expenses, while building on it to clarify how those expenses should be calculated and how licensees should assess whether that amount would be sufficient in recovery or orderly wind-down scenarios. Our proposed updates are designed to provide clarity to market licensees on how the requirements should be interpreted and promote consistent application across the market.
Consistent with some other major international jurisdictions, the proposed updates provide greater clarity on the amount and types of financial resources needed to support resilience. This includes differentiating between liquidity and capital.
It also sets clearer expectations for licensees operating significant market venues whose disruption or failure would have an impact on the stability and resilience of Australia’s financial system. This includes expectations for such licensees to undertake scenario analysis and stress testing to inform the amount of financial resources they should hold.
Other updates include providing additional guidance on:
- the use and maintenance of financial resources to ensure they are available when needed
- reporting and monitoring to support compliance, and
- arrangements to address specific risks that may be applicable for intra-group dependencies and the characteristics of their business model.
The proposed updates are designed to be proportionate to the nature, scale and significance of a market licensee’s operations in Australia. Together, the changes are intended to support long-term resilience and provide a stable foundation for growth and innovation in Australia’s financial markets.
Details of our proposed updates to the financial resources requirements in RG 172 and the reasons supporting these changes are set out in Attachments 1 and 2.
See Related information for the draft regulatory guidance and a summary of changes.
A consultation paper was not issued for this consultation.
Providing feedback
We invite feedback on our proposal as well as on appropriate transition arrangements. You should send your submission to markets.consultation@asic.gov.au by 5 pm AEDT on 4 December 2026.
You may choose to remain anonymous or use an alias when providing feedback as well as on appropriate transition arrangements. However, if you do remain anonymous we will not be able to contact you to discuss your feedback should we need to.
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Background
Licensed operators of financial markets in Australia (market licensees) are obligated to have sufficient resources to operate their markets properly under s792A(1)(d) of the Corporations Act. This includes sufficient financial resources as well as sufficient technological and human resources.
Guidance to help market licensees comply with the financial resources requirements is currently found in RG 172.68–RG 172.74. The guidance provides high-level principles for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 market licensees on:
- the objectives of the financial resources requirements (RG 172.68)
- how market licensees should assess the sufficiency of their financial resources (RG 172.69–RG 172.72), and
- additional requirements a market licensee may be required to comply with if certain factors or risks are relevant (RG 172.73–RG 172.74)
Related information
26-262MR ASIC consults on financial resources requirements for market operators
RG 172 Financial markets: Domestic and overseas operators
Attachment 1: Draft updated RG 172
Attachment 2: Summary of changes table for draft updated RG 172