Oceania Reg Desk

Thursday, 2026-08-27 · covering the last 24h

Australia

RBA Payments System Board endorses annual assessment of ASX's clearing and settlement facilities. At its August 2026 meeting, the Board endorsed the RBA's annual Assessment of ASX's clearing and settlement facilities against the Financial Stability Standards, to be released publicly once provided to ASX, the Treasurer and ASIC. It noted ASX remains under sustained scrutiny, with its "ASX Transformation Portfolio" addressing governance, culture and risk-management issues raised in prior assessments alongside continuing work on CHESS resilience and the safe delivery of CHESS Replacement Release 1. The Board separately welcomed the Cash Distribution Framework Act 2026, which commenced the same day. RBA media release

ASIC published its Corporate Plan 2026–27 (26 August), flagging heavier scrutiny of AI use in markets and banking, simpler regulatory instruments and closer inter-regulator coordination on tech risk. No outcomes yet on CS 59 (RG 264 sell-side research) or CS 60 (low-volume financial markets instrument remake); both remain open. No new ASX or Cboe/TMX Australia notices of note, and no fresh RBA monetary-policy communications — the cash rate stays on hold at 4.35%, with the next Monetary Policy Board meeting 28–29 September.

New Zealand

No material FMA or NZX items in the window. MBIE's Capital Markets Reform Phase Two consultation, which closed 25 August, has no submissions summary or outcome published yet. The RBNZ did not meet in the window; the OCR remains at 2.50%, with the next Monetary Policy Statement due 2 September.

Informational only — summaries of public regulatory and central bank sources; not advice.