Dan Chesterman — currently CommSec and Private Bank chief information officer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia — has been appointed CIO at ASX.
ASX has been hunting for a new IT chief since late 2016 after its former CIO, Tim Thurman, revealed he would return to Canada early this year.
Chesterman’s role at ASX will begin in early September. He will be a member of the company’s senior group executive and report to ASX COO Tim Hogben.
Chesterman has been at CBA since 2007. Prior to joining the bank he held roles at Accenture, Whittman-Hart and Dean Solutions.
“Given his breadth of experience, Dan is a perfect fit for ASX’s business,” Hogben said.
“His extensive domestic and international financial services experience and familiarity with technology infrastructures – from a platform, regulatory and operational perspective – are combined with a unique mix of business and leadership skills.”
The COO said that Chesterman “has a proven track record in building alignment and engagement, project delivery across various portfolios, and prioritising complex and competing decisions”.
“The ASX is an iconic organisation and is in the midst of a series of substantial and transformative investments in technology,” Chesterman said. “I look forward to coming on board and contributing to the ongoing transformation.”
In February the ASX reported an uptick in its spend on technology as it worked to upgrade a number of its key systems.
One of the key projects being worked on at the exchange is a potential replacement for CHESS: The Clearing House Electronic Subregister System.
The ASX is preparing to make a decision later this year on whether to replace it with technology inspired by Bitcoin’s blockchain.
The exchange is considering replacing CHESS, which provides clearing, settlement and asset registration services, with a new system based on distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The ASX has built a prototype in collaboration with US-based Digital Asset Holdings, which the exchange is a part owner of.
CHESS was originally rolled out by ASX in 1994.
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