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It's hard to give non-Australian investors a sense of how bizarre this was. The ASX still provides CHESS holding statements (updates when you transact shares, w

by neffo 4y ago

It's hard to give non-Australian investors a sense of how bizarre this was. The ASX still provides CHESS holding statements (updates when you transact shares, when codes change or you are otherwise issued new shares)... by post. On paper. There is no other option. Before they fixed that they wanted to move CHESS to a blockchain. Wild.

levymetal 4y ago
ASX now offers electronic delivery of CHESS holding statements and notifications: https://www2.asx.com.au/investors/start-investing/electronic-delivery-of-chess-notifications https://www2.asx.com.au/investors/start-investing/electronic... However, holders can’t opt themselves in; inexplicably this needs to be supported at the broker level. I’ve spoken to one of the large brokers who advised me they have no plans to support this feature.
stevage 4y ago
Honestly I'm relieved to learn I'm not just an idiot who didn't know how not to get the letters.
urthor 4y ago
It's even crazier talking to the people involved. The project got the underlying Blockchain tech from VMware... AND had a requirement for a backup "traditional" RDBMS system. So, complete feature duplication of the core, mission critical application. Scope creep was crazy. Someone who doesn't understand the technology went "blockchain yeah sure mate let's go." Good project managers are so important.
- manquer 4y ago
  Good PMs would be replaced when they say a firm no in such top down projects
  - dopidopHN 4y ago
    Yeah that my thougt as well. That type of things fall from the sky on PM and they have to deal with the new direction. Maybe product director / VP or whatever
- threeseed 4y ago
  > Good project managers are so important. That's more an issue with Product Management.
  - lethal-radio 4y ago
    It could also be an issue for Program Management or even Engineering Management. All of those roles can be flexible from company to company, and many companies do not staff every effort with all of those roles.
- rchaud 4y ago
  > So, complete feature duplication of the core, mission critical application. A requirement likely put in place by someone who realized that even if executed properly, a blockchain solution would do no better than what the "legacy" RDBMS already could.
daemin 4y ago
I too am sick of getting those paper letters getting sent, so much waste when I end up shredding or throwing all of them out. Really the ASX should just focus on providing a solid modern platform for trading. Simplicity, security, and speed. None of that requires any form of blockchain which is slower, scammier, and more complex. It just requires writing a modern electronic computerised system.
- jiggawatts 4y ago
  Reminds me of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). They have a web presence, in glorious HTTP like it's still the 1990s and everyone uses NetScape Navigator: http://www.bom.gov.au/ They've been called out about the lack of HTTPS on their site in the media several times. In 2022, it's just shameful. Maybe there's a technical reason, you're about to say. Maybe they have an enormous load on their systems and they can't afford the overhead of TLS? Or something? Get a load of this: https://www.bom.gov.au/ https://www.bom.gov.au/ works! It shows a full-page error message -- via correctly configured HTTPS -- that says: The Bureau of Meteorology website does not currently support connections via HTTPS. You will shortly be redirected to http://www.bom.gov.au. What kills me is that you if you use F12 network tools to have a look at their site, you'll notice that they're behind the Akamai CDN, which 100.000% certainly supports HTTPS and probably serves little else in this day and age... except for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and other backwards organisations. Their excuse for this was that there already was an ongoing project by some consultancy (Accenture or Deloitte, I can't remember) to uplift their site. Years later that seems to have gone nowhere despite tens of millions of dollars spent. Australian organisations seem to love this kind of thing. Still clinging on to the old system for dear life while burning a huge pile of money that doesn't actually deliver any improvements and gets abandoned after years...
  - xcdzvyn 4y ago
    FYI: https://weather.bom.gov.au/ https://weather.bom.gov.au/ supports HTTPS and is pretty much a "modern" drop-in for the top-level.
    - 4y ago
stephen_g 4y ago
Not to mention these letters have an identifier which is used basically as a password printed on them…
- dools 4y ago
  It's so wildly insecure that the holder identification number comes out in the mail. Then if you change your address, they send a notification letter to the old address just letting you know that it was changed. This means if you move house, and don't get a mail redirection, whoever lives at your old address will receive a letter containing your holder identification number.
  - ed25519FUUU 4y ago
    Maybe the blockchain can fix that?
- tominous 4y ago
  It's ok, because they often make you give your postcode as a second factor.
  - stephen_g 4y ago
    Or last name. Which is also printed on the letter…
nailer 4y ago
As someone that spent a decade in the Australian tech industry, and then a decade outside, I can say that Australia is famously a tech backwater. London might be seen as conservative/cautious compared to SV or Austin or Lisbon, but it's far ahead of Australia where bloated big bang projects are well supported, and lean projects by actual tech companies are ignored.
- mbrodersen 4y ago
  Aussie here. Speak for yourself mate. The tech I am working on in Melbourne (Rostering/Pairing) is world class. We are routinely beating international companies 100x our size.
- viraptor 4y ago
  UK may not be amazing but they do a lot correctly. Lots of systems integrated / running under the same umbrella. In-house infra with in-house ops. You can even browse through an the puppet and deployment scripts on public github.
- bogantech 4y ago
  The problem with Aus is that all the talent leaves and you're left with uneducated bogans like me

by neffo 4y ago

levymetal 4y ago

ASX now offers electronic delivery of CHESS holding statements and notifications: https://www2.asx.com.au/investors/start-investing/electronic-delivery-of-chess-notifications https://www2.asx.com.au/investors/start-investing/electronic... However, holders can’t opt themselves in; inexplicably this needs to be supported at the broker level. I’ve spoken to one of the large brokers who advised me they have no plans to support this feature.

stevage 4y ago

Honestly I'm relieved to learn I'm not just an idiot who didn't know how not to get the letters.

urthor 4y ago

It's even crazier talking to the people involved. The project got the underlying Blockchain tech from VMware... AND had a requirement for a backup "traditional" RDBMS system. So, complete feature duplication of the core, mission critical application. Scope creep was crazy. Someone who doesn't understand the technology went "blockchain yeah sure mate let's go." Good project managers are so important.

manquer 4y ago
Good PMs would be replaced when they say a firm no in such top down projects
- dopidopHN 4y ago
  Yeah that my thougt as well. That type of things fall from the sky on PM and they have to deal with the new direction. Maybe product director / VP or whatever
threeseed 4y ago
> Good project managers are so important. That's more an issue with Product Management.
- lethal-radio 4y ago
  It could also be an issue for Program Management or even Engineering Management. All of those roles can be flexible from company to company, and many companies do not staff every effort with all of those roles.
rchaud 4y ago
> So, complete feature duplication of the core, mission critical application. A requirement likely put in place by someone who realized that even if executed properly, a blockchain solution would do no better than what the "legacy" RDBMS already could.

daemin 4y ago

I too am sick of getting those paper letters getting sent, so much waste when I end up shredding or throwing all of them out. Really the ASX should just focus on providing a solid modern platform for trading. Simplicity, security, and speed. None of that requires any form of blockchain which is slower, scammier, and more complex. It just requires writing a modern electronic computerised system.

jiggawatts 4y ago
Reminds me of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). They have a web presence, in glorious HTTP like it's still the 1990s and everyone uses NetScape Navigator: http://www.bom.gov.au/ They've been called out about the lack of HTTPS on their site in the media several times. In 2022, it's just shameful. Maybe there's a technical reason, you're about to say. Maybe they have an enormous load on their systems and they can't afford the overhead of TLS? Or something? Get a load of this: https://www.bom.gov.au/ https://www.bom.gov.au/ works! It shows a full-page error message -- via correctly configured HTTPS -- that says: The Bureau of Meteorology website does not currently support connections via HTTPS. You will shortly be redirected to http://www.bom.gov.au. What kills me is that you if you use F12 network tools to have a look at their site, you'll notice that they're behind the Akamai CDN, which 100.000% certainly supports HTTPS and probably serves little else in this day and age... except for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and other backwards organisations. Their excuse for this was that there already was an ongoing project by some consultancy (Accenture or Deloitte, I can't remember) to uplift their site. Years later that seems to have gone nowhere despite tens of millions of dollars spent. Australian organisations seem to love this kind of thing. Still clinging on to the old system for dear life while burning a huge pile of money that doesn't actually deliver any improvements and gets abandoned after years...
- xcdzvyn 4y ago
  FYI: https://weather.bom.gov.au/ https://weather.bom.gov.au/ supports HTTPS and is pretty much a "modern" drop-in for the top-level.
  - 4y ago

stephen_g 4y ago

Not to mention these letters have an identifier which is used basically as a password printed on them…

dools 4y ago
It's so wildly insecure that the holder identification number comes out in the mail. Then if you change your address, they send a notification letter to the old address just letting you know that it was changed. This means if you move house, and don't get a mail redirection, whoever lives at your old address will receive a letter containing your holder identification number.
- ed25519FUUU 4y ago
  Maybe the blockchain can fix that?
tominous 4y ago
It's ok, because they often make you give your postcode as a second factor.
- stephen_g 4y ago
  Or last name. Which is also printed on the letter…

nailer 4y ago

As someone that spent a decade in the Australian tech industry, and then a decade outside, I can say that Australia is famously a tech backwater. London might be seen as conservative/cautious compared to SV or Austin or Lisbon, but it's far ahead of Australia where bloated big bang projects are well supported, and lean projects by actual tech companies are ignored.

mbrodersen 4y ago
Aussie here. Speak for yourself mate. The tech I am working on in Melbourne (Rostering/Pairing) is world class. We are routinely beating international companies 100x our size.
viraptor 4y ago
UK may not be amazing but they do a lot correctly. Lots of systems integrated / running under the same umbrella. In-house infra with in-house ops. You can even browse through an the puppet and deployment scripts on public github.
bogantech 4y ago
The problem with Aus is that all the talent leaves and you're left with uneducated bogans like me