Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Lays Off 200 Contractors

• Approximately $3.19 billion in daily trading activity is processed by the ASX CHESS.
• Accenture conducted an independent audit of the project and found a plethora of problems.

Almost 200 independent contractors working for the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on the integration of blockchain technology into its CHESS clearing and settlement system are scheduled to be let off. This comes after ASX earlier this month announced the end of a seven-year programme. For which it had budgeted $170 million before taxes in losses.

Approximately $3.19 billion in daily trading activity is processed by the ASX CHESS (Clearing House Electronic Subregister System). Which has been in operation for over 25 years. And handles the settlement of share transactions and the recording of shareholdings.

Independent Audit Reveals Issues

The business intended for the blockchain upgrade to provide issuers and end investors with more control over it. And higher trust in the exchange’s market operations by giving the former greater access to the latter’s register of holders for the securities being issued.

Moreover, Accenture conducted an independent audit of the project and found a plethora of problems. Such as “achieving scalability, resiliency, and supportability,” as well as API latency, and technological limits.

The blockchain project’s launch occurred in 2017, but it has been plagued by setbacks ever since, and its completion had been put back until late 2024.

However, ASX informed Reuters that it has retained a subset of the third-party contractors working on the project, some of whom are slated to work on a formal evaluation of the project or transfer to other jobs inside the firm. There were up to 300 individuals working on the project at its height, with an estimated 75 percent being contractors.

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