Companies spent $250m preparing for ASX’s aborted blockchain-based clearing house replacement

SENIOR WRITER

8:08PM FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Stockbrokers, share registries and other stakeholders around the ASX have already spent as much as $250m preparing for its stalled blockchain-based replacement program for its CHESS clearing and settlement program, a federal parliamentary committee has been told.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services at a public hearing in Sydney on Thursday, FinClear chief executive David Ferrall said the ASX’s offer of $15m in terms of a fee rebate for its partners who are working with it on the replacement program did not go anywhere near what had been spent so far.

The ASX suspended its planned blockchain-based replacement program last November pending a rethink of the project, and is now promising to announce its updated plans by the end of the year.

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