(Updates to add ASX's statement in the sixth paragraph and stock movement in the last paragraph)
ASX (ASX:ASX) is still not meeting the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) expectations in several important areas, including governance, operational resilience, and risk management, RBA's annual assessment found, the central bank said in a statement on Tuesday.
The central bank's review of the ASX clearing and settlement facilities assessed the performance of the facilities against the central bank's financial stability standards over the period from July 1, 2025 to June 30.
The RBA assessed that one or more of the facilities "partly observed" the requirements under the standards on governance, framework for comprehensive management of risks, credit risk, and operational risk. The facilities were rated as having "observed" or "broadly observed" many of the individual standards.
The central bank upgraded ASX Clear and ASX Settlement to "partly observed" from "not observed" against the operational risk standard after the ASX strengthened CHESS resourcing and contingency arrangements.
The report noted that ASX made changes in recent months aimed at improving the independence of the boards of the clearing and settlement facilities, and committed to strengthening the facilities' control over their resources, finances, and use of intragroup services. RBA supports the general direction of these changes, it added.
RBA's assessment recognizes the progress ASX has made, while also making clear that there is more to do, ASX Chief Executive Anthony Attia said in a statement. The bourse operator will focus on delivering its committed improvements to rebuild trust, Attia added.
The exchange operator's shares declined 1% in recent trading on Wednesday.