ASX (ASX:ASX) pledged to address with "greater urgency" the operational risk flagged by regulators following the technical disruptions to the Australian bourse's CHESS batch settlement in late December 2024, according to a filing on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) downgraded their assessment of ASX Clear Pty Limited and ASX Settlement Pty Ltd's compliance with the "Operational Risk" standard from "partly observed" to "not observed," based on the regulators' statement on Monday. The assessment was extraordinary as it was conducted outside of the annual assessment cycle. It was prompted by a technical outage last Dec. 20 that resulted in delayed settlement of trades.

Last March 28, the RBA and ASIC sent a letter to ASX asking the Australian bourse to hire an external expert and conduct a technical review of CHESS. If not addressed, both agencies said they are "prepared to take further regulatory action."

In a Monday filing, ASX Chairman David Clarke acknowledged that the settlement incident "was very serious" and that the company is "absolutely committed to rebuilding confidence in ASX."

The company said it will work with the ASIC on selecting an external technical expert.

ASX's shares were down nearly 2% in recent trade.