ASIC Is Conducting Investigation Into ASX Trade outage on 16 November

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that it is conducting an investigation into the ASX Trade outage on Monday 16 November 2020. The exchange said that it takes its obligations very seriously and will cooperate fully with the regulator.

On 16 November 2020, the outage of the ASX Trade system caused a disruption to the market. ASX had to spend the whole night to resolve the issue and reopen the market at the normal time (10am) on 17 November. 

Dominic Stevens, ASX Managing Director and CEO, said: "The outage falls short of the high standards we set ourselves and the standards others expect of us. Notwithstanding the extensive testing and rehearsals, and the involvement of our technology provider, ASX accepts responsibility. The obligation to get this right and provide a reliable and resilient trading system for the market rests with us."

"While I am disappointed with today's outage, we are determined to continue our program of contemporising ASX's technology stack from top to bottom. This initiative is critical to ASX building an exchange for the future and ensuring we best serve the needs of our customers and the Australian market",  Mr Stevens said.