ASX : AGM - Chairman and Managing Director and CEO's addresses

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the 2017 Annual General Meeting for ASX Limited. It is 10.00am and as we have a quorum present I declare the meeting open.

Before we start I ask everyone to turn off their mobile phones or switch them to silent please.

I acknowledge this AGM is being held on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people. I pay my respect to their elders past and present.

These proceedings are being webcast. The speeches have been released to the market and published on our website.

Let me begin with some introductions. I am Rick Holliday-Smith, the Chairman of ASX.

Next to me are Managing Director and CEO Dominic Stevens; Company Secretary Daniel Moran; and directors Heather Ridout, Robert Priestley, Yasmin Allen, Peter Warne, Damian Roche, Melinda Conrad, Peter Marriott and Ken Henry.

The 2017 financial year was a solid one for ASX. Activity and revenue levels were higher across most major areas of the business, and we achieved our fifth consecutive year of profit growth.

We had success with many of our strategic initiatives including:

• introducing an upgraded trading platform for our derivatives business

• promoting ASX as a respected listing venue for foreign and technology companies

• becoming the administrator of the Bank Bill Swap benchmark

• and implementing new admission rules and enhanced guidance to strengthen the quality of our market.

This year also marked the 30th anniversary of ASX's creation. In 1987, Australia's six state stock exchanges joined to form one national market - the ASX.

ASX is now one of the top 10 exchange groups in the world and punches above its weight. Our scale, connectivity and reputation are attracting increasing numbers of companies, traders and investors from home and abroad.

The decision to form ASX 30 years ago took vision and courage. Since then it has played a critical role in Australia's economic development. And delivered tremendous value to companies and end investors.

Today's ASX remains true to that vision. We continue to seek better ways to serve our customers, strengthen ASX's resilience and improve the competitiveness of Australia's financial markets.

It is a great privilege and pleasure to serve as your Chairman. On behalf of the Board and management, I thank our shareholders for your support throughout the year.

Up 6.0%

Up 1.9%

Continued growth in profit and returns to shareholders in FY17

Up 2.4%

Revenue

Up 1.9%

$180.9m

Expenses

201.8c

Dividends per share

Revenue and expenses as per the Group segment reporting

Variance relative to the prior comparative period (FY16 pcp)

Profit after tax

In 2017 ASX produced record revenue and earnings.

Operating revenue exceeded $764 million, up almost $18 million or 2.4%, and profit after tax was $434 million, up $8 million or almost 2%.

Operating expenses increased 6% and our capital expenditure was more than $50 million. These reflect the investments we are making in our people, new technology and growth initiatives.

All major businesses contributed to the solid performance. This was supported by pockets of volatility in equity and futures markets, and by good progress on initiatives such as Centre Point and OTC clearing.

Despite a decline in the amount of capital raised, there were 152 new listings in 2017, the most in six years.

Our CEO, Dominic Stevens, will say more about ASX's business performance shortly. This will include our strategy to grow the listings franchise, our new futures trading system and an update on our plans for distributed ledger technology as a possible solution to replace CHESS. We are increasingly confident that this technology will help simplify how our marketplace works and should unlock a new era of efficiency and innovation.

It is the combination of macro-economic drivers and ASX's own initiatives that provide the company with growth opportunities for the future.

The Board determined a final dividend of 99.8 cents per share fully franked. This will be paid tomorrow. This took dividends for the full-year to 201.8 cents per share, an increase of almost 2%.

We have maintained our dividend policy of paying out 90% of underlying net earnings to shareholders. We review this policy regularly to ensure we have the flexibility to invest in our infrastructure and deliver sustainable returns to shareholders.

At last year's AGM I introduced Dominic Stevens as the company's new CEO. I congratulate Dom on his first 12 months in the role. He has transitioned from board to management seamlessly and established an excellent rapport with staff and other stakeholders. Your Board is pleased with the appointment and asks that you support the grant of performance rights to Dom when we come to vote on item 5 later today.

Dom is making positive changes to ASX's culture and positioning. You may have read in our 2017 Annual Report that ASX's vision is to be 'the world's most respected financial marketplace'. It's an aspirational, but we hope, realistic goal. It's the centrepiece of a new Vision, Strategy and Execution - or VSE - framework that Dom has rolled out across the company. Staff have embraced it. Dom will elaborate shortly.

The VSE has the Board's strong support because it recognises the importance of what we call ASX's 'licence to operate' activities. These are the critical functions ASX performs every day, often overlooked and unheralded, that go to the heart of operating the market. They underpin the trust and confidence of all those who interact with ASX, and are vital to our brand and reputation.

Recent events have underlined the importance of these issues for corporate Australia. The community has high expectations of our key institutions. So do I. The integrity of ASX's people, policies and processes is core to our value proposition. I would like to assure shareholders that your Board pays close attention to ASX's culture and is strongly protective of ASX's good name.

This includes how we manage risk, be those risks financial, operational or related to technology. ASX has a very effective governance, control and compliance framework in place to manage these exposures. This encompasses how we manage the risks associated with the platforms and processes we operate that are critical to the functioning of Australia's financial markets.

On the cyber front, ASX invests in the resilience and security of its systems. We liaise with relevant authorities, benchmark our arrangements against global best practice standards, and have received favourable assessments from the regulators. In a report published earlier this month, the RBA concluded that ASX has conducted its affairs in a manner that causes or promotes overall stability in the Australian financial system.

Our unique position allows us to raise risk awareness with Australian business. In April I hosted the launch of the ASX 100 Cyber Health Check Report. The report identified a high level of risk awareness among our larger listed companies and a commitment by them to stay vigilant and take appropriate risk-mitigating action. It provides a framework for all businesses to evaluate and improve their cyber resilience. The report can be found on ASX's website.

As an investor myself, I understand the importance of this issue to the millions of investors who hold shares in Australian companies. ASX will continue to provide leadership in this area.

I am delighted that Robert Priestley joined the Board as a non-executive director in May this year. As is normal, he is seeking your approval at today's meeting. Rob has over 30 years' experience in the financial services industry, including as a former CEO of JP Morgan Australia & New Zealand. He will address you later in the meeting.

Directors Damian Roche and Peter Warne will also make short speeches in support of their re-election. All three candidates are endorsed by the rest of the directors.