In this Issue

• Season’s greetings from the Chair
• 2024 - A year in review
• Market update – ACSA Unit Price Data Standard and CHESS Replacement
• Regulatory Update – Treasury beneficial Ownership and CPS230
• Members Update – ACSA Awards, ACSA Thought Leadership and Annual Stats
• Industry Insights
• Upcoming Events
• Member profile – DTCC
• In Focus – Tim Helyar, State Street
  
  

A word from our CEO

IIn this edition of the ACSA Industry Wrap we cover the ACSA Unit Price Data Standard, ASX CHESS replacement, the Treasury beneficial ownership reforms and ACSA’s focus on CPS230 guidance.

This issue also shares what’s next for the ACSA Thought Leadership Series and our ACSA Awards are now open.

This month we are In Focus with Tim Helyar from State Street, and we share a profile on New Member – DTCC.

Season’s greetings from the Chair

2024 has been another active year for ACSA, a year where the ASX progressed the CHESS Replacement project, regulators maintained a positive agenda for regulatory change and we continued to work collaboratively across the industry to deliver value to our people and clients.

My fourth year as ACSA chair has delivered further accomplishments for ACSA. We have worked successfully to define our strategic priorities and and extend our industry connections with new members and new cohorts. In particular, we have turned our focus to the Next Generation.

My thanks go to the Executive Directors and David Travers, CEO of ACSA, the Working Group Chairs and members of the Working Groups for your commitment and drive to ensure the industry continues to manage through change and take regulatory initiatives head on for the benefit of our member houses, our clients, and our people. The efforts of so many on a volunteer basis is appreciated and makes a huge difference to our ability to get things done.

A special call out to Andrew Gibson from Citi and NAB Asset Servicing who have been tireless contributors to ACSA for many years - your contributions will be missed. I also welcome Janelle McCoy (HSBC), Chris Moore (Citi) and Elaine Vaisanen(JP Morgan) to the Board and look forward to working closely going forward to deliver on ACSA’s vision and strategy.

I wish you all the best for the holiday season and hope that you can take some time out to enjoy the break with family and friends. I look forward to continuing to work with you in 2025 on what is expected to be another year of opportunity for us to deliver on the ACSA mission.

Thank you again and best wishes.

Sally

“Our mission is to promote efficiency and international best practice for members, our clients and the market through a united voice for the custody and investment administration industry in Australia.”

2024 - a year in review

ACSA maintained its priorities in 2024 in line with its mission to focus on efficiency and best practices across the custody and investment administration industry to support members and their clients.

ACSA Working Groups continued to drive industry and regulatory engagement around ACSA priorities and industry focus. The level of regulatory engagement has been at record levels with over 12 regulatory submissions completed in 2024 (7 in 2023). I thank all the Working Group members for their ongoing support and contribution to ACSA, further a special thanks to the Working Group chairs who take the lead on the Working Group agendas.

After 9 years Andrew Gibson has ended his time with ACSA. I thank Andrew for his outstanding contributions and also extend a big thank you to one of our founding member organisations, NAB Asset Servicing, who have recently changed their level of engagement with ACSA as their business evolves.

Interest from market participants in the contributions of ACSA continued this year and we saw DTCC re-join as Associate Members and MUFG, XChequer and Holley Nethercote join as new ACSA members. Welcome to these organisations.

We delivered a successful series of webinars, bringing thought leadership and new industry insights to members. . The partners for our 11 webinars included: SWIFT, Citibank, Coinbase, KPMG, Holley Nethercote, ValueExchange, and EY.

Throughout the year, we also issued a series of whitepapers and guides covering T+1, CPS230 and a Unit Price Data Standard.

ACSA has engaged regularly with the ASX on several matters around CHESS Replacement and Pricing. We will continue to actively engage with the ASX and fully support the need to have stability and resiliency in the ASX listed settlements.

Finally, in 2024 we got to know some of our industry people in InFocus, including Alvin Chia (Northern Trust), Fiona O’Sullivan (State Street), Priyankara Maduranga Haputhanthrige (HSBC), Michelle Cross (Automic), Janelle McCoy (HSBC), Andrew Gibson (Citi), Praveen Wijesekera (NAB), Leon Stavrou (Northern Trust), Nadia Schiavon (JP Morgan), Harpreet Ahuja (HSBC).

Thank you to all Working Group members, the ACSA Executive Board and Kate Dent for your efforts and support in 2024.

David

CEO, ACSA

Market Update

ACSA Unit Price Data Standard

ACSA set up a working group to identify how the standardisation of unit price data could improve the efficiency, timeliness, and accuracy of unit price processes across the investment services industry.

The objective is to create an operating environment where fund unit price data elements are digitally exchanged and can be interpreted without ambiguity delivering greater integrity, timeliness and consistency of unit price data including both CUM and EX pricing and distribution CPU amounts.

You can find out more about the ACSA Unit Price Data Standard here.

CHESS Replacement Insights

On 26 November 2024, ASX released two responses to consultation feedback. The first is ASX’s response to consultation feedback on the Consultation on the scope and implementation of CHESS replacement Release 2 (settlement and sub register) published on 2 August 2024.

The second is ASX’s response to consultation feedback on the consultation on the Development Incentive Pool future milestones for the CHESS replacement Partnership Program published on 17 April 2024. Both papers summarise the feedback received and provide ASX’s responses.

ACSA responded both these consultations and our responses can be found here.

Join the discussion.

If you’re interested in joining in ACSA’s response to these consultations, please connect to us at admin@acsa.com.au.

Regulatory Update

Enhanced beneficial ownership disclosure for listed entities.

Treasury is consulting with industry on the implementation of a public beneficial ownership register. This will improve transparency of corporate structures by showing who ultimately owns, controls, or receives profits from companies.

The first stage of reform is legislation focusing on listed companies. The reforms propose amending the Corporations Act 2001 to:

• increase the disclosure of ownership information for listed companies
• broaden the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s regulatory enforcement powers.

ACSA is preparing a response to the consultation and you can find out more here.

APRA – ACSA response to Operational Resilience Standard CPS230.

ACSA members continue to engage on the industry response to CPS230 and how the industry can provide guidance to assist clients in meeting their operational resilience obligations.

ACSA has now released guidance in Critical Operations, Tolerance Setting and Oversight if Material Service Providers, follow the links to the ACSA Guidance Notes:

ACSA CPS230 Guidance note on Critical Operations
ACSA Guidance Note on Tolerance Setting
ACSA Guidance Note on Oversight of Material Service Providers

Council of Financial Regulators – Quarterly Statement

The Council of Financial Regulators (the Council) recently released minutes from its quarterly meeting where they discussed a range of current and emerging risks and vulnerabilities that could lead to, or amplify, financial instability in Australia.

The discussion also covered longer-run structural trends for the Australian financial system relating to digitalisation, the environment and the evolving international security landscape, including the increasing interconnection between banks and superannuation in the provision of market liquidity. Follow this link to read more.

Members Update

2024 ACSA Awards

Nominations are now open for ACSA Awards 2024

The ACSA Awards recognise outstanding individual contribution to the Association, wider industry and key stakeholders. For over 12 years these coveted Awards have showcased outstanding individuals and the value they bring to industry collaboration and focus on positive change.

Eligibility

Any person who makes a significant contribution to the industry and Association is eligible.

Nomination Process

Nominations should be made by completing the Nomination Form and return no later than 30 January 2024 via email to:

Kate Dent
ACSA Executive
admin@acsa.com.au

Nominations must include details of the individual’s specific contribution (see instructions regarding the citation).
Full details of the process and the Roll of Honour of past recipients can be viewed here.

Award Presentation

Recipients will be notified in February, and the Awards will be presented at ACSA’s first members event for 2024 in March which will be held concurrently in Sydney and Melbourne.

ACSA Thought Leadership Webinar Series

The next topic in the ACSA Thought Leadership series is ACSA Thought Leadership Series: T+1 in the United Kingdom – When, why and how?.

The UK has announced that it will move to T+1 no later than 31 December 2027, and will continue to explore opportunities for close collaboration with the EU and other European jurisdictions. The EU has now proposed October 2027 as their transition date.

The move to T+1 presents a major industry transformation that will require significant investment from firms to upgrade post-trade systems and processes as well as related technology. There will also be implications from a trading, funding and market liquidity perspective, which need to be carefully considered. ACSA is actively involved in the discussions on T+1 representing members’ views and concerns.

Please join Andrew Douglas, the chair of the UK T+1 Taskforce Technical Group in a dialogue with Chris Moore, Citi Custody Country Head, Australia and New Zealand to discuss the UK’s move to T+1, the interlock with Europe, and what it might mean for Australian and New Zealand investors.

When: 13 Dec 2024 from 10-11am AEDT
Where: Virtually via Teams

REGISTER NOW

Key Events

• 13 December 2024: ACSA Thought Leadership Series: T+1 in the United Kingdom – When, why and how?
• March 2024: ACSA Member Event
  

Head to our events page to find out more and register.

Insights and Updates

• October 2024 - ACSA response to Treasury Law Amendments (Mergers& Acquisitions) Bill 2024

• October 2024 - ACSA response to ASX Consultation on Cash Equities and Settlement New Pricing policy
  

Member Profile –DTCC

With more than 50 years of experience, DTCC is the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry. From 20 locations around the world, DTCC, through its subsidiaries automates, centralises, and standardises the processing of financial transactions, mitigating risk, increasing transparency, enhancing performance and driving efficiency for thousands of broker/dealers, custodian banks and asset managers.

Industry owned and governed, DTCC innovates purposefully, simplifying the complexities of clearing, settlement, asset servicing, transaction processing, trade reporting and data services across asset classes and bringing increased security, enhanced resilience and soundness to financial markets.

Fatosh Lord is a Senior Relationship Manager at DTCC, based in Sydney, Australia. Fatosh brings more than 25 years of experience in financial markets to her role in managing client relationships for DTCC in Australia.

Fatosh commenced her career in commodities trading before moving to strategic business development roles at the ASX, where she managed the ASX 24 Futures client segment and contributed to the development of its Interest Rate Futures products. In her current role at DTCC, she collaborates closely with DTCC’s clients in Australia to understand their evolving needs in the delivery of services and develops strategies to address their challenges across financial markets.

As Co-Chair of the DTCC Australia Advisory Council, Fatosh is supported by a diverse team across DTCC’s functional business lines, including Relationship Management, Clearing & Securities Services, Data, Consulting, Digital Assets and Trade Reporting.

DTCC recently joined ACSA as an Associate member, what are the benefits of being a member?
At DTCC, collaboration & partnering with the industry and our clients is what drives our strategy forward. Joining ACSA provides DTCC with an opportunity to advance our existing relationships with industry participants as well as remain aligned with Australia’s market developments in the asset servicing and custody segments. We look forward to contributing to the ACSA’s future forums and working group activities, where we will share our expertise in post trade, global market infrastructure connectivity, clearing, settlement, digital assets and regulatory trade reporting – to benefit the community.

Tell us about your business’s involvement in asset servicing / financial services? What is your primary focus?
DTCC is an extension of our clients’ infrastructure, aligned in purpose and governed by the industry. Our core business services include Institutional Trade Processing, Clearing & Settlement, Asset Services, Wealth Management, Data, Repository & Derivatives Services, Digital Assets and Consulting Services.

Leading the industry’s successful transition to T+1 has enabled us to strengthen our stakeholder relationships across financial services as we undertook a client-centric approach to outreach, engagement, support and communications. We greatly appreciated the partnership with market participants, including the custodian banks, who played a key role in driving higher affirmation rates. This is one recent example of DTCC’s involvement in asset servicing & financial services.

DTCC’s vision is to serve as a strategic partner to the industry and lead the industry in partnership with our clients to make markets safer, more efficient and resilient. Our clients have trusted us to solve some of the biggest issues facing the global financial services industry, with many further leveraging our market expertise and extensive network via DTCC Consulting Services for Regulatory Reporting and Securities Services projects .

What industry challenges do you help to solve?

DTCC is calling 2024 the ‘Year of Execution’ given the criticality of key global initiatives we helped solve. DTCC has successfully implemented T+1 for US Equities Settlement, this was a key milestone and important industry challenge to create greater efficiency and resiliency. Our Custodians were a significant partner in helping us deliver this change. Looking ahead, the expanded requirements in US Treasury Clearing and bringing our new digital capabilities, via DTCC Digital Assets to market will be our focus for 2025. Another key initiative is advancing modernisation, this includes upgrading our client interfaces and rebuilding our core service applications to create a client experience that is API-based and gives clients access to data how and when they want it.


What excites you about the future of the asset serving/custody industry?
The industry as a whole is on the cusp of change with digital assets, decentralised finance and AI becoming an integral component of our future vision and shifting the way our clients operate. DTCC is excited to be partnering with, as well as driving these strategies forward, with our asset servicing and custody industry clients and, more broadly, in global financial markets.

In Focus –Tim Helyar

Tim joined State Street in 2021 as country head for Australia. He is responsible for the overall management of the Investment Servicing and Global Markets businesses, encompassing business strategy, commercials, client and regulator relationships, as well as directorship on the associated legal entities.

Tim has extensive experience in the financial services industry across asset servicing, investment management, and superannuation in multiple locations including Sydney and London. He has held various roles across operations, product management, product development and relationship management, having previously worked for J.P. Morgan and Bankers Trust (BT) over a 25 year career in the industry.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UNSW as well as being a CFA charter holder with the CFA Institute

Quick fire five
Coffee or Tea? Definitely coffee.
Tik Tock, Instagram or Facebook? Instagram
Pop, Rock or Rap? Rock
Cocktail or Wine? Wine
Summer or Winter? Summer

Can you briefly describe your role and responsibilities?

I’m responsible for the overall management of the Investment Servicing and Global Markets businesses in Australia & New Zealand, encompassing business strategy, commercials, client and regulator relationships, day to day execution as well as directorship on the associated legal entities.

What is the most satisfying part of your role?

The broad responsibility across a very mature business with a unique mix of capabilities that has so much potential. I love that I have the ability to set and execute a strategy that works for this market, with strong global backing and the support of a very experienced and capable team locally and across APAC to get it done.

How do you motivate yourself and your team?

Setting a clear vision and strategy, and then executing it in the most efficient way possible. People like a concise list of priorities that remain consistent and appropriately resourced, with management backing to achieve them. Showcasing success stories and unearthing stars in the team is also critical along the way.

What are some of the exciting places your career has taken you?

Sydney, London and Edinburgh have been my main bases for work, but they have provided a platform for amazing adventures with my friends and family to well over 50 countries around the world. London, Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo are major financial hubs, but they are also wonderful gateways to the best the world has to offer. We are truly blessed with the opportunities our industry can provide.

What advice would you give your 21-year-old self?

Back yourself, be bolder and braver with new opportunities and challenges. Learn to say yes more than finding reasons to say no.