ASX to Adopt ISO 20022 for Equity Clearing and Settlement Services

-ASX partners with SWIFT to align CHESS interface with the ISO20022 global messaging standard

HONG KONG /PRNewswire/ — SWIFT announces that it is working with ASX to implement the ISO 20022 global messaging standard for ASX’s post-trade equities clearing and settlement services.

Using the ISO 20022 messaging standard will help customers reduce their costs of connecting to and operating in the Australian equity market. The standard already supports the ASX ReferencePoint corporate actions notification service.

ISO 20022 has become the de facto messaging standard for securities market infrastructures. ASX joins other major market infrastructures using ISO 20022 for clearing and settlement, including T2S in Europe, SGX in Singapore, JASDEC in Japan and DTCC in the United States of America.

As part of the initial engagement, SWIFT will undertake an analysis of ASX’s existing 500+ proprietary CHESS messages in order to assess compatibility with the global standard. CHESS is ASX’s post-trade system for the equities market. Provision of advice regarding global best practices in ISO 20022 implementation and a future roadmap of subsequent phases are additional services which will be delivered.

Implementation of the messaging standards will be considered in conjunction with the development of the next generation of the CHESS system. ASX is currently consulting with customers and other stakeholders, and will make a decision on the technology it will use to replace CHESS towards the end of 2017.

Philippe Dirckx, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at SWIFT said: “ASX’s adoption of ISO 20022 for its clearing and settlement system will mark a new milestone for the Australian securities community. ASX will join the domestic fund industry and the New Payments Platform in applying global best practice in messaging standards, helping to cement ISO 20022 as the financial messaging standard of choice in Australia. ASX is a key strategic partner for SWIFT, and we are excited to be supporting their adoption process.”

Timothy Hogben, Group Executive Operations, said: “ASX is making significant investment in technology to deliver greater innovation and reduce costs for our customers in the post-trade environment. Using global standard protocols to streamline and improve the quality of our communications will enable consistent end-to-end business processes. ISO 20022 is widely recognised as the post-trade messaging standard of the future and it is appropriate we adopt this as the standard for the Australian marketplace.”

About SWIFT

SWIFT is a global member-owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services.

We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and financial crime compliance.

Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to communicate securely and exchange standardised financial messages in a reliable way.

As their trusted provider, we facilitate global and local financial flows, support trade and commerce all around the world; we relentlessly pursue operational excellence and continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies.

Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT’s international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT’s global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.

For more information, visit http://www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: SWIFT

Contacts:
Jaime Lee
Head of Public Affairs & Communications
Jaime.lee@swift.com
+852 2107 8860

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Source: S.W.I.F.T.SCRL
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