The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is beginning a formal search for a new chief executive as Helen Lofthouse prepares to leave in May after 11 years with the company, including four in the job of CEO. That change at the top comes at a difficult moment for the bourse, which must contend with a court action related to a major trade settlement project and a series of regulatory and operational issues that have dented market confidence.
A global headhunting firm has been engaged to lead the recruitment. Investors and market participants say the incoming CEO will need to focus on rebuilding trust with regulators and users as regional and international exchanges compete for listings and institutional capital.
ASX’s average daily trading volume was A$6.9 billion ($4.9 billion) in January, compared with HK$272.3 billion ($34.81 billion) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, underscoring differences in scale between the Australian bourse and larger regional counterparts. By aggregate market capitalisation, ASX ranks as the ninth largest exchange in the Asia-Pacific region, based on data from the World Federation of Exchanges.
Investors argue the next CEO must address core governance and operational shortcomings. "You need someone that restores credibility and really does focus on understanding the problems that they are facing, and really just going from the bottom up to fix those issues," said Omkar Joshi, the founder of Opal Capital Management. "They’ve been making mistakes which have been of their own accord," he said. "And to stop doing that, they need to first understand what’s actually driving that and get on top of that."
The ASX declined to comment on the CEO search. ASX Chair David Clarke has indicated the board is looking for leadership with specific capabilities, saying the next CEO needs to "have strong credentials in financial markets, transformation and risk management."
Sean Sequeira, chief investment officer at Australian Eagle Asset Management and an ASX shareholder, said a leader experienced in working with regulators should be a priority. "While shareholders would love near-term returns, for the longevity of the company, the most important part for them at the moment is to manage the regulatory risk, which would mean keeping those regulators that they are in touch with very happy with what they’re doing," he said. "That’s probably the reason why (Lofthouse) was encouraged to move on ... regulators have picked up a number of missteps. Those missteps probably resulted in a requirement for ASX to make some sort of change."
ASX controls roughly 80% of the A$9.9 billion daily equity market turnover in Australia, with smaller rival CBOE Australia accounting for about 20%, according to regulatory data. The exchange’s most prominent problem surfaced in 2022 when it disclosed a A$250 million write-down tied to a failed project that sought to rebuild ageing software using blockchain technology to modernise trade settlement and boost trading volumes. That initiative, known as CHESS, is central to a legal action brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which alleges the ASX misled investors on the project’s timetable and progress.
The Federal Court of Australia is scheduled to begin hearings in mid-June on the ASIC case. Meanwhile, ASX has encountered additional setbacks: the company is implementing a new software system that its own timetable indicates will not be fully operational until 2029, and it has faced multiple regulatory inquiries since the CHESS disclosure.
Operational incidents have compounded concerns. In late 2024 the exchange experienced an outage that delayed settlement of trades, raising questions about the ASX’s ability to maintain critical market infrastructure. On December 1 last year the company’s announcements platform froze, depriving participants of timely corporate disclosures.
Critics say the exchange’s dominant market position has dulled the urgency for internal change. "The ASX’s near-monopoly means they don’t face the pressures that other businesses in Australia deal with, which reduces the urgency of change," said Emanuel Datt, managing director of Datt Capital, a fund manager. "The errors we’ve seen, such as consistent outages for the announcement platform, suggest a culture of sloppiness that tarnishes the reputation of such an important piece of financial market infrastructure."
Market participants are seeking tangible improvement in governance, project delivery and regulatory engagement. That includes demonstrating clearer controls over major technology projects, faster remediation of platform vulnerabilities and a proactive relationship with regulators to prevent further public disputes and courtroom fights.
Currency conversions included in reporting were ($1 = 1.4071 Australian dollars) and ($1 = 7.8224 Hong Kong dollars).
Further investor-oriented commentary and algorithmic stock-screening material present in the original report noted tools that evaluate ASX among thousands of companies using many financial metrics, but the core issues for the exchange remain legal exposure from the CHESS litigation, an extended timeline for its new system, and the reputational impact of operational failures that have attracted regulatory scrutiny.