Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc.'s new chief information officer is planning to visit New York and London in mid-March ahead of the bourse's plan to build a new trading system, it was learned Monday.
Yoshinori Suzuki hopes to see firsthand the operations of the two major stock exchanges, whose computer trading systems are widely considered better than that of the TSE in terms of execution speed, capacity and stability, sources said.
Suzuki will be briefed on the two exchanges' backup systems, which are designed to take over if the bourses are hit by terrorist attacks or disasters.
Asia's largest stock exchange is planning to install a new system by 2008. The TSE has been plagued by computer problems in recent months, leading to the creation of Suzuki's CIO post.
The TSE has said it will make the new system open-ended to enable the stock exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo to use the same system.
Japanese stock exchanges at present use separately developed computer systems and it would be difficult for the smaller exchanges to build systems powerful enough to handle a wide range of financial products, given the huge costs involved.
The new system is also expected to enable the TSE to deal with surging Internet transactions by individual investors.
A computer system breakdown at the bourse Nov. 1 led to its most wide-ranging suspension of trading ever; another glitch resulted in the failure to cancel an erroneous order placed by Mizuho Securities Co. on Dec. 8.
Then the TSE was forced to suspend trading in all listed stocks Jan. 18 as the number of transactions approached the system's capacity amid a price plunge following raids by prosecutors on Livedoor Co. offices on suspected Securities and Exchange Law violations.