TCS and ASX Successfully Go Live with CHESS Release 1 for Cash Clearing and Settlement

TCS and ASX Successfully Go Live with CHESS Release 1 for Cash Clearing and Settlement​

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has achieved a significant milestone in the modernization of Australia's financial market infrastructure, completing the deployment of Release 1 of the Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) program. This deployment represents a key step in the digital transformation journey of the ASX, developed in partnership with TCS.

CHESS is the system responsible for facilitating the clearing and settlement of trades across eligible financial products. It manages the transfer of legal title to securities through its sub-register and enables delivery versus payment settlement by transferring both securities and cash between buyers and sellers. Release-1 of the CHESS Project introduces the new clearing component to the system.

High-Performance Clearing Solution Implemented​

As part of the ASX CHESS Project, TCS implemented its specialized solutions, including TCS BaNCS for Market Infrastructure and Quartz Gateway. Together, these solutions provide a high-performance, scalable, and resilient CCP clearing solution for multiple asset classes.

The implemented platform supports crucial functions such as real-time trade novation and netting, adhering strictly to industry standards. It ensures connectivity to multiple Australian exchanges and supports major messaging standards, including ISO 15022, ISO 20022, and FIX messaging standards.

The solution is cloud-hosted and has been benchmarked to process over 20 million trades per day, boosting ASX's future operational resilience and scalability.

Industry Leaders on Milestone Achievement​

Industry representatives emphasized the importance of the successful deployment. Tim Whiteley, Chief Information Officer of the ASX, stated that Release 1 of the CHESS Project marks a significant milestone in modernizing Australia's critical market infrastructure for post-trade clearing and settlement services. He noted that leveraging TCS’s expertise enabled the successful production of a modern, secure, resilient, and scalable solution for the Australian market. The ASX plans to progress with Release 2, which is targeted to go live in 2029.

R Vivekanand, President BFSI Products and Platforms at TCS, commented on the successful partnership. He stated that the smooth implementation of the world-class platform through TCS BaNCS and Quartz establishes a strong foundation for the growth of Australian financial markets.

Operational Scope and Next Phases​

The CHESS Replacement Project is being delivered by the ASX through a staged approach across two releases, designed to manage change and mitigate implementation risk for critical market infrastructure systems.

In addition to supporting ASX, the TCS BaNCS for Market Infrastructure caters to the evolving needs of Exchanges, CCPs, and CSDs. Its comprehensive capabilities cover the entire operational cycle across various asset classes, including:

• Issuance and Clearing
• Risk Management and Depository/Registry functions
• Cross-border settlement, pledge, and collateral management
• Repo and securities lending and borrowing

The platform supports both omnibus and end-investor accounting, along with supporting multiple settlement models and settlement optimization to manage liquidity for both cash and securities. This functionality is complemented by TCS' Quartz solutions, which provide standards-based integration and support for decentralized settlement and tokenization based on distributed technology. The co-existence approach for supporting both ISO 15022 and ISO 20022 standards facilitates a seamless transition to the newer ISO 20022 standard.

Following the successful conclusion of Release 1, TCS, ASX, and industry participants have commenced work for Release 2 of the CHESS Replacement Program.

TCS Stock Price Movement​

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services Limited are edging higher to ₹2464.9 as of 11:37 AM, rallying 0.71% for the day, up ₹17.30 in live trading. The stock has seen robust activity with 1.47 million shares traded, showing continued buying interest as the market moves toward the day's high of ₹2487.