The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) is planning to build a
new computer system in 2008 that will have stronger back-up
functions to cope with system failures.
The new system will also deliver higher trade execution speeds.
The TSE is currently seen by brokers as a much slower market than
its international rivals when it comes to placing and completing
trades.
News of the new system comes after two embarrassing system
failures last year. One saw the exchange taken down for almost a
whole day’s trading in November, and another led to one brokerage
losing tens of millions of pounds in December because of an
accounting error with a single trade.
The November fiasco, caused by an upgrade to the system that
went wrong, led to the senior management of the TSE taking
temporary pay cuts.
The TSE will also make the new system open-ended to enable other
Japanese stock exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo to
share it. Currently, Japanese stock exchanges operate different and
independently built computer systems.
Fujitsu currently supplies the TSE trading system.