Australian market must innovate or risk being marginalised, financial sector warns
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The news: Australia’s financial sector has warned the country must innovate in order to stay competitive in a global race for capital, during an ASIC roundtable of the country’s most significant market participants.
The context: Convened late last month, the group urged the country to prioritise innovation focused on boosting productivity, liquidity and global connectivity of the Australian market.
A summary of the discussions published by ASIC highlighted the need to remain an attractive destination for listings and capital — reducing costs, removing structural barriers for new entrants, and enhancing market infrastructure — as global markets become increasingly accessible.
Participants said Australia had to “fix the basics” before it could pursue transformation reform, including tackling clearance, trading and settlement systems, improving liquidity and price discovery, and implementing clear regulatory settings.
Some suggested watering down disclosure obligations to encourage more IPOs.
The group argued the monopoly of market infrastructure is restrictive, warning incumbents should not dictate the pace of change. The group sees tokenisation as inevitable but said its benefits would remain dependent on central bank digital currency and stablecoin rails.
Finally, the group said innovation should be accompanied by adequate safeguards and strong investor protections without resorting to unnecessary red tape.
The roundtable consisted of all the major banks and regulators, as well as asset managers Blackrock and Vanguard, Australian stock exchanges including the ASX, Cboe and the NSX, investment banks Macquarie Group and Goldman Sachs, crypto exchange Coinbase, super fund UniSuper, liquidity provider Susquehanna, and financial services providers like CommSec, FinClear and Computershare.
ASIC said it will hold industry workshops and meet with regulatory peers before laying out a roadmap.
The source: ASIC
