Imperium to Get ASX Benchmark Nod

Imperium Markets says it has received indicative approval from ASX Benchmarks as an Approved Trading Venue (ATV) for the purposes of Australian benchmark BBSW (Bank Bill Swap Rate).

The firm says subject to completion of its onboarding process with ASX Benchmarks as well as the technical connectivity, final approval will follow – regulatory approval is also required. This work is intended to be complete by Q4 2024, ahead of a go-live data, to be notified.

BBSW rates represent the midpoint of the nationally observed best bid and best offer (NBBO) for ASX Prime Bank Eligible Securities. ASX in consultation with the committee has primary oversight of the governance of the BBSW process, this oversight includes the review of the determination and dissemination methodology applied in the construction of BBSW.

Imperium says it is the first Fintech to be granted a Tier 2 markets licence by ASIC, and was a use case in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot in July 2023. In that use case the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac dealt Negotiable Certificate of Deposits (NCDs) with each other on Imperium’s marketplace and settled instantaneously using eAUD issued by the RBA.

In December 2023 Imperium and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), which ran the RBA CBDC pilot, announced a pilot research project into how the tokenisation of assets and settlements can benefit Australian money markets and debt capital markets.

“The market has been requesting Imperium to become an ATV for some time. Post the RBA CBDC pilot, those requests increased,” says Rod Lewis, chair of Imperium. “We have built a cloud-hosted platform that will provide the market with modern technology to deal on today, but importantly technology that can be used as a foundation for the markets of tomorrow.

“We’ll be taking real transactions dealt in our marketplace, including term deposits and prime NCDs, and tokenising them on our distributed ledger,” he adds. “This will allow for the testing of tokenisation of assets, settlement and custody on ledger.

“Our research project with the DFCRC and executing real transactions in our licenced marketplace will be an opportunity for the market to collaborate on Imperium’s infrastructure and prepare for the inevitable tokenisation of traditional financial products and securities,” Lewis concludes.