There are three topics that Robert Elstone, chief executive of the Australian Securities Exchange, is loath to discuss.

They are the recent loss of a large chunk of the ASX’s regulatory function to the country’s corporate watchdog; the likely arrival in 2010 of market entrants such as Liquidnet, the US institutional broker, and Chi-X, the pan-European equities trading platform; and what role he intends to play as exchanges around the world consolidate.