Funke Kupper resigns from ASX
Recommendation
Elmer Funke Kupper has stunned investors by resigning as chief executive of ASX Limited, to 'direct his full focus to the investigations which may be made into the Tabcorp matter – and not have them interfere with the important role of leading the ASX'. The 'Tabcorp matter' are the allegations aired in the media last week surrounding a payment apparently made by Tabcorp to an entity connected with the Cambodian Prime Minister, at a time when Tabcorp was considering applying for a gaming licence in the country.
The Federal Police are apparently looking into the matter, but have not formally involved Funk Kupper. It's hard to imagine that the upstanding Funke Kupper would have been involved in any impropriety. However, for a business that must maintain complete faith from the public, it's probably right to protect it from any media chatter. As such we applaud his decision to put the needs of his company ahead of himself.
He's done a great job, though, so we're sorry to see him go. Most notably he's taken the fight to the competition – with the hugely successful ASX Centre Point (the company's own 'dark pool'), over-the-counter derivatives clearing, and the recent launch of a trial of distributed ledger technology for trading and settlement (and potentially severely curtailing the role of clearing).
That said, he leaves the company in great hands. The ASX's impressive Chairman, Rick Holliday-Smith, will step up as Executive Chairman while the company looks for a permanent replacement. He has been a director of ASX since it merged with the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) in 2006 and was a director of SFE for eight years before that. Prior to joining SFE, he had a number of executive roles in market-facing businesses.
He'll be ably assisted by Peter Hiom, who has been deputy chief executive since the merger with SFE, where he had been Executive General Manager – Business Development. Before SFE, Hiom spent nine years with the London International Financial Futures Exchange ('LIFFE').
The stock is up slightly since we reviewed the interim result last month. BUY.
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Disclosure: The author owns shares in ASX.