ASX partners with Bloomberg Indices to launch ASX-Bloomberg AusBond Index Futures. ASX, in collaboration with Bloomberg Indices, plans to introduce new futures contracts that provide market participants with exchange-listed products to track the Bloomberg AusBond Composite Bond Index (BACM0) and Bloomberg AusBond Credit Index (BACR0), subject to regulatory clearance and industry readiness. These indices are widely recognised as representative benchmarks of Australian fixed income markets and are designed to deliver efficient, transparent, and capital-effective solutions for managing exposure to Australian sovereign and credit fixed income markets. The ASX-Bloomberg AusBond Index Futures will give market participants the ability to manage interest rate and credit risk, replicate index performance, and implement new hedging and liquidity management strategies. Listed on ASX 24, the contracts will have quarterly expiries and be cash-settled, similar in contract design to ASX's Treasury Bond Futures. Allan McGregor, ASX Head of Rates and Benchmarks, said: "ASX runs the world's fourth-largest interest rate derivatives market and leads the Asia-Pacific region, providing global access to deep futures liquidity across major trading hours. The ASX-Bloomberg AusBond Index Futures expands and diversifies ASX's fixed income tools, offering an efficient and capital-effective way for participants to manage interest rate and credit risk." Fateen Sharaby, Head of Index Derivatives at Bloomberg Index Services Limited, said: "Bloomberg Indices is proud to support ASX's launch of futures linked to our Bloomberg AusBond Indices, which serve as leading benchmarks for Australia's fixed income markets. Pairing our transparent methodologies and robust governance with ASX's leading derivatives platform will provide market participants with exchange-traded tools for managing credit exposure and represents a natural evolution of index-based solutions." ASX's expansion into fixed income index futures enhances its current suite of products which enable clients to trade and manage risk across asset classes, including futures, options, cash, and over-the-counter markets.

Technical glitch paralyses ASX announcements platform, leaving investors in dark. The Australian Securities Exchange stumbled into December with a major technical failure that prevented dozens of companies from releasing market-sensitive information. Trading opened under a cloud of uncertainty as the ASX announcements platform went offline at 8:59 AM AEDT on 1 December 2025. Approximately 80 companies found themselves unable to publish critical updates to investors, forcing an immediate wave of trading halts across the market. Metcash among major names hit by system failure. The ASX publishing outage caught grocery wholesaler Metcash at a particularly awkward moment. The company behind IGA supermarkets was mid-investor call when the platform crashed. Unable to release its first-half results presentation, Metcash had no choice but to request a trading halt. The company had posted a post-tax profit of $142.2 million and declared an 8.5 cent dividend for shareholders. But retail investors were locked out of the information while institutional fund managers received details of at least four equity raisings via private circulation. The Australian Financial Review reported this created a two-tier information system favouring professionals over everyday shareholders. Market loses ground as uncertainty spreads. The S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.21 per cent to 8,595 points by midday. The broader All Ordinaries lost 23.9 points or 0.27 per cent to 8,894.8. Banking and healthcare sectors bore the brunt of the decline. Shares in insurance broking company AUB Group plunged after its takeover talks with private equity firms EQT and CVC collapsed. The weak start capped what had already been the bourse's worst month since March. In November, the ASX 200 fell three per cent, with Commonwealth Bank dropping 11.2 per cent. ASX scrambles to restore function. The exchange operator issued a statement acknowledging the technical problem and apologising for the disruption. "ASX is urgently investigating a technical issue affecting the publication of company announcements," the statement read. "ASX's cash equities trading platform remains open and commenced as scheduled at 10:00 AM AEDT." By 11:22 AM, the ASX had implemented an initial remediation process. Some announcements began flowing through, but earlier submissions remained stuck in the system. * 8:59 AM: Announcements platform goes offline * 10:00 AM: Market opens as scheduled despite outage * 11:22 AM: Partial remediation begins, newer announcements start publishing * Midday: Around 80 companies still in trading halts * Afternoon: Backlog continues while ASX works toward full resolution Halted securities face extended delays. The exchange confirmed that halted securities would only resume trading once their associated announcements had been successfully published. This created a challenging situation for companies with time-sensitive news. Some had been preparing major updates for weeks, only to see release schedules thrown into chaos. The ASX emphasised that clearing and settlement functions continued operating normally. Share transactions and financial processing went ahead as planned. Regulatory scrutiny intensifies. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission confirmed it was engaging with the ASX on the outage. "ASIC is aware of issues with the ASX market announcement platform," a spokesperson said. The regulator has already commissioned a broad inquiry into the ASX's governance and operational performance. Commonwealth Bank director Rob Whitfield leads the review alongside two other experts. The Reserve Bank of Australia declined to comment immediately but had previously criticised the exchange's culture and risk-management practices. In September, the RBA issued a scathing assessment following a December 2024 settlement-system malfunction. That incident raised concerns about whether the ASX could maintain secure and resilient market infrastructure. Pattern of technical problems emerges. The announcements platform failure marked the latest in a troubling sequence of operational mishaps. December 2024 saw a major trading settlement outage that forced the exchange to reschedule and delay settlement of trades. The ASX later issued a formal apology and allocated $1 million in credit rebates to settlement participants. The exchange has also struggled with its long-running CHESS replacement programme. In 2022, it abandoned a blockchain-based upgrade after writing off $245 million. Last year, the ASX entrusted Tata Consultancy Services with the project at an estimated cost of $105 million to $125 million over multiple years. Global context: CME outage adds to market jitters. The ASX problems came just days after CME Group suffered one of its longest outages in years. On Friday 29 November, the world's largest exchange operator experienced a data centre cooling failure at its CyrusOne facility. The disruption halted futures, options, and commodities trading across stocks, bonds, and currencies for several hours. While unrelated to the ASX incident, the timing heightened investor anxiety about dependence on critical market infrastructure. ASX share price takes hit. Shares in ASX Ltd fell during Monday trading as investors digested the operational failure. The stock dropped as much as 2.46 per cent to $56.78 during the session. By early afternoon, it was trading down 1.7 per cent at $57.21, hitting its lowest level since 21 November. Year to date, ASX shares have declined 12.1 per cent, reflecting ongoing concerns about the exchange operator's ability to maintain reliable systems. Sector performance amid disruption. Despite the platform chaos, certain sectors found support during the session. * Energy stocks edged 0.1 per cent higher as oil prices stabilised * Gold miners benefited from a 1.60 per cent surge in gold prices to US$4,192 * Materials advanced on copper's 0.30 per cent uptick * Technology fell sharply, continuing a recent decline * Financials extended losses for the sixth consecutive session * Real estate investment trusts posted declines Looking ahead: confidence concerns mount. The outage has reignited questions about whether Australia's primary exchange can meet the operational standards expected of a major financial market. Investors and listed companies rely on timely, equal access to market-sensitive information. Any disruption to that flow undermines confidence and creates unfair advantages for those with alternative information channels. The ASX now faces pressure to demonstrate that proper safeguards and redundancies are in place. With regulatory reviews already underway, another major systems failure could trigger more serious intervention. Market participants will be watching closely to see how quickly full functionality is restored and what steps the exchange takes to prevent future outages.

ASX appoints Lucinda McCann as Chief Compliance Officer. ASX today announced the appointment of Lucinda McCann as Chief Compliance Officer. She will be reporting directly to CEO Helen Lofthouse. Ms McCann brings a wealth of experience to the role, including five years at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). At APRA, Ms McCann rose to the position of Chief General Counsel where she led the legal and enforcement group, supporting supervision of Australia's banking, insurance and superannuation sectors. Her prior roles at APRA included serving as Deputy General Counsel and General Manager, Legal. Ms McCann will join ASX from international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, where she is a Partner in the corporate team. She brings more than 25 years' experience advising on financial services, corporate law, superannuation, banking and insurance regulation, including advising boards and executive teams on ASX Listing Rules, the Corporations Act and regulatory reforms. Ms McCann succeeds former Chief Compliance Officer Daniel Moran who announced he was resigning from the role in July after a successful 15-year career at ASX.