Australian Stock Exchange signs TCS after shelving its blockchain project

Tata Consultancy Services has signed an agreement with Australia's primary securities exchange, ASX. Under the deal, the Indian IT giant will provide next-generation clearing and settlement platforms to the Australian market. ASX will implement TCS BaNCS for market infrastructure to enable the transformation. The TCS product will be used to replace ASX's existing platform for cash equities clearing and settlement.   

The choice is a major departure from its decision in 2017, announced with much fanfare, to be at the vanguard of adopting blockchain-like technology for use in critical financial architecture. The deployment resulted in repeated delays before it was shelved last year. 

India-listed TCS's software is used by exchanges around the world including in Finland and Canada for functions it would be expected to perform for ASX's Clearing House Electronic Subregister System, or CHESS, the Australian exchange said on Monday. 

"They have a mature product and technology that they use to support quite a lot of customers," ASX Chief Information Officer Tim Whiteley said on a call with analysts and media. "The amount of customisation is minimised," he added. 

Vivekanand Ramgopal, TCS's president of banking products, said the ASX contract was "an affirmation of our track record in this mission-critical business". 

The failure of ASX's earlier blockchain-based project came after an external review found much of the code had to be rewritten. Digital Asset, is the New York startup that ASX hired at the time.