The Tokyo Stock Exchange's plan to go public in fiscal 2005 (ending next March 31) seems unlikely to go smoothly as the Financial Services Agency opposes the plan. At issue is a debate over whether the bourse can continue to properly execute its public role as a watchdog over the stock market after going public.
Solution of the conflict depends on how to ensure TSE's neutrality and independence, on the one hand, and its efficiency and speed in collecting financial data on listed companies and making the necessary judgments on their behavior and financial conditions, on the other.
The FSA is concerned that, if the TSE lists its own stock, the bourse might tend to put a greater emphasis on profits, making light of its public role. The FSA demands that the bourse separate its "self-control component," which oversees daily stock transactions and account settlements for listed companies, from the stock market component before going public.