ASIC has released its annual market assessment of IMB Limited (IMBL).
The report covers the period 19 January 2008 to 9 June 2009.
ASIC has concluded that IMBL has:
- adequate arrangements for the supervision of its markets in accordance with the obligations under s792A(c) and s821(c) of the Corporations Act; and
- sufficient resources to operate its market and clearing and settlement facility (CS facility) properly and for the required supervisory arrangements to be provided under s792A(d) and s821A(d) of the Corporations Act.
ASIC does not have any recommendations to make to IMBL arising from this assessment.
Background
IMBL has been granted an Australian market licence as a domestic market operator and an Australian CS facility licence as a domestic CS facility operator.
A financial market is defined as a facility through which offers to buy and sell financial products are regularly made. Anyone who operates a financial market in Australia must obtain a licence to do so, or otherwise be exempted by the Minister.
A CS facility is defined as a facility that provides a regular mechanism for the parties to transactions relating to financial products to meet obligations to each other that arise from entering into the transactions. Anyone who operates a CS facility in Australia must obtain a licence to do so, or otherwise be exempted by the Minister.
IMBL is currently licensed to operate a market in its own shares and a CS facility for this market.
As part of the conditions of granting a licence to operate a financial market, the licensee must supervise the market and CS facility in accordance with Part 7.2 and Part 7.3 of the Corporations Act respectively.
Under the Corporations Act, ASIC is required to conduct an assessment of the extent to which licensed financial market operators and CS facility operators are complying with their obligations to supervise their markets and CS facilities. ASIC must do this at least once per year in relation to each licensee. ASIC can also assess how well a licensee is complying with its other obligations under the Corporations Act.