Tokyo Stock Exchange CEO steps down after damaging systems failure
Koichiro Miyahara, the head of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), has stepped down over a systems failure which saw the exchange down for an entire day.
TSE operator Japan Exchange Group blamed the outage on faulty hardware
Akira Kiyota replaces Miyahara at the top of Japan Exchange Group, which operates TSE.
TSE experienced its worst outage for 21 years at the start of October. After a 9AM shutdown on 2 October, it closed for an entire day’s trading.
Japan Exchange Group blames the shutdown on unspecified hardware responsible for relaying market information. When that equipment failed, a backup failed to take its place.
The outage was the first to affect all listed stocks on the TSE since 2005. Exchanges in Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo were also affected by the downtime.
All four exchanges use cash equity systems built by Fujitsu. For its part, Fukitsu says it is taking internal action.
“Very regrettable”
According to data from the World Federation of Exchanges, the TSE runs the world’s third-largest equity market in 2019. It operates nearly $6.2 trillion worth of stocks and lists 3,700 companies.
Government spokesperson Katsunobu Kato called the issues “very regrettable” in a press conference. He added that the exchange is taking actions to solve the problem and restore trading.
Kiyota told a news conference of his regret the shutdown happened “at a time when Japan is aiming to improve its standing as a global financial centre.”
Reuters reports Kiyota will take a 50% pay cut for four months. Two other executives will take cuts of 20% and 10%.
TSE is not the only exchange to suffer a shutdown this year. Both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchange were forced to close operations.
New Zealand’s exchange closed for three straight days after a distributed denial of service attack. The Australian Securities Exchange suffered a software glitch forcing it to drop service.
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