ASX warrants ASIC criticism

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) has been chastised for continuing weaknesses in its supervision of the warrants market and disclosure provisions in the listing rules, in a generally upbeat assessment of its supervisory role by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The regulator’s annual assessment of the ASX, released today, found that the bourse’s market operating rules were yet to cover agreements between warrant issuers and investors.

“This has resulted in some instances of disorderly trading and in at least one instance, the need to cancel a number of trades after the event,” the report said, noting limited follow-up on concerns it had raised in its two previous annual assessments.

ASIC also noted inconsistencies in the administration of listing rules by the various state offices of the ASX’s Companies Department, pointing to “significant unexplained variances between the activity levels of State offices and the outcomes resulting from those activities.”

The ASX has moved to tighten the warrants rules, but according to ASIC has generally refuted there is a problem with disclosure supervision - a situation the regulator said it would continue to monitor.

Overall the regulator concluded the ASX had “adequate arrangements for supervising the market, including arrangements for handling conflicts between its commercial interests and the obligation to operate the market in a fair, orderly and transparent way, monitoring the conduct of participants, and enforcing compliance with its rules.”

The regulator attributed much of the ASX’s progress since its last assessment to new arrangements allowing the speedier elevation of compliance concerns to the Audit and Risk Committee, as well as the consolidation of an internal compliance function.