Description

About the Event

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming financial markets, particularly exchange‑based markets already dominated by sophisticated algorithmic trading. As trading agents become increasingly autonomous through advanced AI and machine learning techniques, new risks emerge where algorithms independently learn harmful behaviours. Such behaviours, including tacit collusion, market spoofing, and benchmark manipulation, threaten market integrity and may disadvantage other participants. This paper assesses the extent to which Australia’s current financial markets laws and regulations can respond to these challenges and identifies three key limitations: the difficulty of detecting AI-driven ‘learned manipulation’, the legal framework’s reliance on conduct attributable to human deployers, and the evidentiary burdens required to prove the market effects of autonomous misconduct. To address these shortcomings, the paper proposes the introduction of a certification regime for algorithmic trading systems, drawing on lessons from the European Union’s MiFID II and RTS 6, and adapting them for the Australian regulatory context. The proposed regime would require explainability, record‑keeping, pre‑deployment testing, and ongoing monitoring, thereby enhancing transparency and regulatory oversight. Its aim is to ensure that increasingly autonomous trading algorithms operate safely and ethically, strengthening Australia’s ability to safeguard market integrity in an AI‑driven future.

About the Speaker

Professor Mimi Zou is the Head of School in the School of Private and Commercial Law at the University of New South Wales and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. She is a global leader in the field of law and emerging technologies, with more than a decade of research expertise in the private and commercial law dimensions of artificial intelligence. Her work has informed high-level policy and regulatory initiatives, and she has served as a senior adviser to the G7, the World Economic Forum, the UK Government’s responsible technology adoption body, the UK Ministry of Justice, and LawtechUK.

Before joining UNSW, Professor Zou held senior academic leadership roles in the United Kingdom. She was Chair in Commercial Law at the University of Exeter and held the inaugural fellowship in Chinese law at the University of Oxford, where she also founded the Oxford Deep Tech Dispute Resolution Lab and a legal tech spinout.

Professor Zou holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) and a DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford, where she studied at Christ Church and St John’s College as a Commonwealth Scholar. She has been called to the Bar of England and Wales and admitted as a Solicitor in New South Wales, Australia. She will join Tenth Floor Chambers in Sydney in May 2026.