ASIC today released its annual assessment report of the ASX Group (ASX) licensees. The assessment covers the period 1 July 2010 to 1 November 2011 and pays attention to how ASX dealt with a number of specific issues, including: (i) the sufficiency of ASX’s technological resources, in particular following the ASX market outage on 27 October 2011; (ii) the operation of ASX’s conflict handling arrangements, in particular the arrangements it has in place to manage entities with which it has a real or perceived conflict of interest, and any considerations arising from ASX’s new managing director and CEO’s board membership of another ASX-listed company, and (iii) ASX’s framework for admitting participants to its markets and clearing and settlement facilities. The report sets out a number of areas for attention that ASX has agreed to address, working closely with ASIC. In some cases, ASX has already initiated steps to meet the agreed actions. While important, these issues did not cause ASIC to qualify the conclusion that ASX adequately met its obligations during the reporting period.