ASX Group may be made subject to expanded powers of regulatory intervention along the lines of the powers financial regulators in Australia have over banks.On Friday, the Council of Financial Regulators published a review of the regulation of "financial markets infrastructure" that, in practice, relates only to the trading, settlement and clearing operations of the ASX, which dominates equities' derivatives trading.The origins of this review lie in the advice of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Reserve Bank of Australia to the Treasurer, who earlier this year advised blocking the planned takeover of ASX by Singapore Exchange on the basis of national interest.The rationale at the time was a lack of regulatory sovereignty over a foreign-owned securities exchange and the weak options open to regulators in the event of a loss of solvency or lack of support by the owner of the ASX.At present, these amount to ministerial directions to act, and fines for non-compliance.The main planned remedy, which seems likely to progress to the point of a new law and supporting regulations, is the power to appoint a statutory manager. The plan is to give ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (which regulate markets and clearing houses, respectively) powers that correspond to those of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority over banks.According to the review document, "because [the ASX] links all financial market participants, the potential for systemic disruption, particularly where the viability of a central counter-party is at risk, is arguably at least as great as where an ADI is at risk of failure."