Corporate Actions in Australia: The Case for Transformation

An in-depth report on the challenges for corporate actions processing in Australia and the business case for change

The last few years have seen unprecedented change in the corporate actions landscape - with markets, vendors and investors instigating major transformation across the lifecycle.

ASX is proud to sponsor an industry-wide benchmarking program on corporate actions processing in Australia, conducted by The Value Exchange. Insights from over 60 firms in the Australian corporate action community are detailed in a comprehensive report designed to help financial organisations chart the right course for change tomorrow.

Research shows the average business unit faces annual costs of USD2 million due to corporate action errors and the majority of these costs are derived from data sourcing and management. This report discusses the challenges and opportunities for corporate actions processing in Australia and presents the case for change.

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Corporate Action automation in Australia

Key highlights

Source: Corporate Actions in Australia: The evolving case for corporate actions transformation

What is the case for corporate action transformation today?

Based on interviews with existing users of the ASX Real Time Corporate Actions service and with corporate action experts across the Australian market, this paper combines extensive market perspectives with extensive, statistical research from our 2022 "Corporate Action Transformation in Australia" study

Our aim in this paper is to give you a clear, market-based view of the case for corporate action transformation in Australia - helping you to scale your back office activities.

Hidden cost to the industry

The case for corporate event transformation begins in the huge amount of manual resources (and risk) that are tied up in corporate action event sourcing in Australia today.

With the average firm employing up to 100 headcounts on event sourcing across the region, the challenges associated with manual event processing are becoming clearer than ever.

Where costs, risk and lack of flexibility have long been understood to be core issues in the back office, we have seen global back offices struggle significantly to hire and retain talent in 2022.

The impact of trust, speed and scalability

Australian market participants may vary in their understanding of current challenges, but the market is consistent on two core points: corporate actions are a data problem and ASX has been entrusted to help resolve it.

ASX’s Real Time Corporate Actions service now provides a range of corporate event information to subscribers in the exact way that it was sourced from corporate issuers - without manipulation or data corruption. In addition, the feed’s ISO 20022 format has delivered major efficiencies in the delivery and processing of complex corporate events.

In removing all of this complexity and manual processing, the Service also significantly increases the velocity of customer event notifications. Where it may have taken custodians up to four hours to notify their customers of new events in the past, investors can now be made aware of new events within two minutes.

Early adopters of the service are reporting significant benefits with one user quoting an 80% increase in STP rates from using the new ASX corporate action feed.

Corporate Actions in Australia legacy problems vs ASX solutions

Comprehensive insights from the Australian corporate actions community

ASX joined industry experts for a webinar on "Corporate Actions in Australia: The Case for Transformation." Hosted by Barnaby Nelson at The Value Exchange, this virtual panel offered exclusive insights into major challenges associated with corporate actions processing in Australia and a discussion on the compelling business case for change.

Watch the session recording to hear from a series of experts on the key highlights from the Corporate Actions benchmarking project.