ASX chief executive Dominic Stevens says the market operator’s world-first CHESS replacement project will go live on schedule in April next year and now is the right time for him to make way for a successor to develop a long-term business plan for the new clearing and settlement system.

Mr Stevens said he had decided to retire this year because he could not commit to leading ASX for another six years as it seeks to profit from an ambitious technology transformation, so he and chairman Damian Roche decided a replacement CEO should be put in place before ASX flicks the switch on its CHESS replacement project.