TOKYO: The Tokyo Stock Exchange said Monday it will draw up by next March rules to swiftly resume trading after a system trouble, in an effort to prevent a glitch-caused shutdown of the biggest cash stock market in Japan.

Through its investigation into the full-day trading halt on Oct. 1 together with Fujitsu Ltd., the developer of the “arrowhead” stock trading platform, the TSE learned that after a glitch the automatic switch to a backup device failed due to the inadequate initial setting, made at the time the platform was introduced in 2015, the exchange said, adding that the flaw has already been fixed.

At a press conference Monday, Hiroki Kawai, executive officer of the TSE, noted that the shutdown occurred because there were neither rules for resuming trading after a glitch nor instructions for securities firms’ responses.

The TSE said that although it was able to resume trading by rebooting the system, it instead suspended all transactions for the entire day out of fears that the procedure would delete all orders accepted from brokerage firms before the system failure and cause confusion.

TSE Senior Executive Officer Ryusuke Yokoyama told the same news conference that the exchange “should be held responsible” for the market shutdown, ruling out the possibility of seeking Fujitsu’s damages payment.

The TSE now plans to set up a panel to discuss preventive measures with a broad spectrum of market participants including Japanese and foreign securities companies.

On Friday, the TSE and its parent, Japan Exchange Group Inc., submitted to the Financial Services Agency a report on the cause of the shutdown and on preventative measures. The FSA is expected to slap an administrative punishment after examining the report.

The TSE, for its part, aims to clarify its management’s responsibility for the incident, in which regional stock exchanges using the TSE’s trading platform were shuttered as well, based on findings from a probe by an investigative panel made up of JPX outside directors.

JIJI Press