The Osaka Securities Exchange said Wednesday its plan to go public in the fall will be delayed until February as a result of its penalization for market manipulation.
The bourse's listing on its own Hercules market for startup companies will probably become possible in February after a screening period, a senior OSE official told a news conference.
The delay is unavoidable, with the Financial Services Agency having told the OSE Tuesday to halt listing preparations until mid-November as part of its punishment.
The OSE has also been told to suspend some of its operations for three months.
The exchange plans to file for listing when the three-month suspension ends.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission filed a complaint in July against a former OSE vice president for alleged market manipulation between December 1998 and March 2000.
These maneuvers were aimed at making stock options trading on the OSE look more active than that on the rival Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In response to the FSA's penalties, the OSE said it will introduce a whistle-blower system to improve its abidance of the law.
To operate the system, the OSE will create a committee featuring outside directors, it said.
The OSE will also set up a committee to prevent the listing of companies tied to underworld syndicates and other antisocial groups.
It will, moreover, add two certified public accountants to its listing division in order to improve screening work.
"We will do our utmost to regain (public) trust," OSE President Goro Tatsumi said.