The
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has given Euroclear
Bank SA/NV one year to apply for a clearing and settlement facility license,
exercising powers it received less than two years ago to pull offshore market
infrastructure providers under Australian regulatory oversight.
The
declaration, published today (Wednesday), gives the Brussels-based
international central securities depository until 26 May 2027 to lodge a formal
application or risk losing access to a market where it settles transactions in
Australian Government bonds.
Euroclear becomes the second of the world’s
two main international central securities depositories to face Australian
licensing requirements, following Clearstream Banking S.A., which secured a CS facility license
in June 2025.
The two
firms dominate cross-border settlement for foreign-currency bonds globally, and
both play similar roles in Australia’s debt securities market, providing
custody and settlement services for institutional holders of Australian
Government paper.
To avoid
disrupting market participants while the license application moves through the
process, ASIC has granted Euroclear a temporary exemption from the licensing
requirement. The firm said it would engage constructively with the regulator
during the transition, according to ASIC.
The
pattern, Clearstream first and Euroclear second, means ASIC will hold formal
supervisory authority over both ICSDs operating in Australia’s debt markets by
mid-2027, replacing the patchwork of indirect oversight that previously applied
to offshore infrastructure providers.
Contents
- 1 New FMI Powers Get Their Second Major Workout
- 2 Brussels Holds the World’s Largest Settlement Pool
- 3 ASIC Tightens Grip Across Financial Infrastructure
- 4 New FMI Powers Get Their Second Major Workout
- 5 Brussels Holds the World’s Largest Settlement Pool
- 6 ASIC Tightens Grip Across Financial Infrastructure
New FMI Powers Get Their
Second Major Workout
The
Euroclear declaration is one of the earliest high-profile tests of expanded
supervisory tools ASIC obtained through the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial
Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024, which received Royal
Assent in September 2024.
The
legislation gave the regulator new powers to oversee clearing and
settlement facilities,
benchmark administrators, derivative trade repositories, and other
infrastructure operators with Australian exposure.
ASIC said
the assessment of Euroclear’s Australian activities was conducted in
consultation with the Reserve Bank of Australia, which co-regulates licensed CS
facilities.
The two
agencies have separate but complementary responsibilities under the regime,
with the central bank focusing on systemic stability and ASIC handling
licensing and conduct supervision.
The
material-connection test is the legal hook ASIC uses to bring offshore firms
inside the licensing perimeter. Once the regulator declares the connection, the
offshore provider must seek a domestic license rather than continuing to
operate under foreign authorization alone.
Brussels Holds the World’s
Largest Settlement Pool
Euroclear
sits at the center of cross-border bond settlement globally. The group reported
roughly €37.5 trillion in assets under custody at the end of 2024, with more
than 2,000 members and operations across Belgium, Finland, France, the
Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.
The
Australian footprint is concentrated in the cross-border leg, where foreign
holders of Australian Government bonds and other domestic debt instruments rely
on Euroclear’s pipes to clear and custody those positions.
Clearstream,
owned by Deutsche Börse Group, has been building its Australian presence for
longer. Its acquisition of Ausmaq from National Australia Bank, which closed in 2019, gave the
Luxembourg-based firm direct administration of managed funds and term deposits
for Australian wrap platforms.
The CS
facility license ASIC awarded in mid-2025 placed Clearstream squarely inside
the Australian licensing perimeter.
Both ICSDs
have also been pushing into tokenization. Clearstream launched a distributed-ledger securities
platform with Google Cloud in November 2025, following live bond-issuance trials with the
European Central Bank.
Euroclear
has run parallel DLT pilots and acquired private-markets platform Goji to
extend its alternative-assets offering, signaling that both firms are competing
on technology as well as scale.
ASIC Tightens Grip Across
Financial Infrastructure
The
Euroclear move lands in the middle of ASIC’s most active enforcement and
supervisory cycle on record.
The
regulator secured AU$349.8 million in civil
penalties between July and December 2025, its highest six-monthly total since the
agency’s founding, and granted 290 new Australian Financial Services licenses
in the financial year to June 2025 while cancelling or suspending 215 others.
The agency
has been pushing further into crypto and digital-asset oversight, with the Corporations Amendment Bill 2025 requiring digital-asset exchanges
and custodians to obtain AFS licenses.
ASIC has
paired that licensing push with a regulatory simplification program that has
eliminated more than 9,000 pages of guidance to date.
The
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has given Euroclear
Bank SA/NV one year to apply for a clearing and settlement facility license,
exercising powers it received less than two years ago to pull offshore market
infrastructure providers under Australian regulatory oversight.
The
declaration, published today (Wednesday), gives the Brussels-based
international central securities depository until 26 May 2027 to lodge a formal
application or risk losing access to a market where it settles transactions in
Australian Government bonds.
Euroclear becomes the second of the world’s
two main international central securities depositories to face Australian
licensing requirements, following Clearstream Banking S.A., which secured a CS facility license
in June 2025.
The two
firms dominate cross-border settlement for foreign-currency bonds globally, and
both play similar roles in Australia’s debt securities market, providing
custody and settlement services for institutional holders of Australian
Government paper.
To avoid
disrupting market participants while the license application moves through the
process, ASIC has granted Euroclear a temporary exemption from the licensing
requirement. The firm said it would engage constructively with the regulator
during the transition, according to ASIC.
The
pattern, Clearstream first and Euroclear second, means ASIC will hold formal
supervisory authority over both ICSDs operating in Australia’s debt markets by
mid-2027, replacing the patchwork of indirect oversight that previously applied
to offshore infrastructure providers.
New FMI Powers Get Their
Second Major Workout
The
Euroclear declaration is one of the earliest high-profile tests of expanded
supervisory tools ASIC obtained through the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial
Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024, which received Royal
Assent in September 2024.
The
legislation gave the regulator new powers to oversee clearing and
settlement facilities,
benchmark administrators, derivative trade repositories, and other
infrastructure operators with Australian exposure.
ASIC said
the assessment of Euroclear’s Australian activities was conducted in
consultation with the Reserve Bank of Australia, which co-regulates licensed CS
facilities.
The two
agencies have separate but complementary responsibilities under the regime,
with the central bank focusing on systemic stability and ASIC handling
licensing and conduct supervision.
The
material-connection test is the legal hook ASIC uses to bring offshore firms
inside the licensing perimeter. Once the regulator declares the connection, the
offshore provider must seek a domestic license rather than continuing to
operate under foreign authorization alone.
Brussels Holds the World’s
Largest Settlement Pool
Euroclear
sits at the center of cross-border bond settlement globally. The group reported
roughly €37.5 trillion in assets under custody at the end of 2024, with more
than 2,000 members and operations across Belgium, Finland, France, the
Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.
The
Australian footprint is concentrated in the cross-border leg, where foreign
holders of Australian Government bonds and other domestic debt instruments rely
on Euroclear’s pipes to clear and custody those positions.
Clearstream,
owned by Deutsche Börse Group, has been building its Australian presence for
longer. Its acquisition of Ausmaq from National Australia Bank, which closed in 2019, gave the
Luxembourg-based firm direct administration of managed funds and term deposits
for Australian wrap platforms.
The CS
facility license ASIC awarded in mid-2025 placed Clearstream squarely inside
the Australian licensing perimeter.
Both ICSDs
have also been pushing into tokenization. Clearstream launched a distributed-ledger securities
platform with Google Cloud in November 2025, following live bond-issuance trials with the
European Central Bank.
Euroclear
has run parallel DLT pilots and acquired private-markets platform Goji to
extend its alternative-assets offering, signaling that both firms are competing
on technology as well as scale.
ASIC Tightens Grip Across
Financial Infrastructure
The
Euroclear move lands in the middle of ASIC’s most active enforcement and
supervisory cycle on record.
The
regulator secured AU$349.8 million in civil
penalties between July and December 2025, its highest six-monthly total since the
agency’s founding, and granted 290 new Australian Financial Services licenses
in the financial year to June 2025 while cancelling or suspending 215 others.
The agency
has been pushing further into crypto and digital-asset oversight, with the Corporations Amendment Bill 2025 requiring digital-asset exchanges
and custodians to obtain AFS licenses.
ASIC has
paired that licensing push with a regulatory simplification program that has
eliminated more than 9,000 pages of guidance to date.
SOURCE LINK : ASIC Hands Euroclear a May 2027 Deadline to Get Australian
