The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reported on its assessment of the markets operated by Bloomberg Tradebook Australia Pty Ltd (BTA).
ASIC has made recommendations to improve BTA’s arrangements for governance, supervision and enforcement, and systems and controls. More information is available in Report 634 Market assessment report: Bloomberg Tradebook Australia Pty Ltd (REP 634).
As part of its terminal offering, Bloomberg provides access through BTA to five electronic markets that offer trading in bonds and debentures, derivatives and spot foreign exchange. Our recommendations are intended to see that BTA strengthens its arrangements so as to meet increasing regulatory and investor expectations of operators of wholesale markets.
Other specialised market operators regulated by ASIC are encouraged to review these findings and recommendations to determine what is applicable to their market operation.
ASIC Commissioner Cathie Armour said, ‘Our assessment of BTA is designed to promote the integrity of fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) markets, and to make sure the trading infrastructure that supports these markets is well run and operationally robust. This is essential to ensure confidence in these markets by investors and consumers.’
Background
Section 794C of the Corporations Act empowers ASIC to assess how a market licensee is complying with its obligations.
In conducting our assessments, ASIC may assess how well a market licensee is complying with its obligations under s792A(c), and we may also include other Chapter 7 obligations.
ASIC uses the licensees’ self-assessment reports, our observation of the licensees’ performance (including reviews of trading records), and market intelligence obtained during our visits to the licensees’ offices and other sources to establish how the licensee has operated its market during the assessment period.