SGX CEO: Latest disruption had NO impact on trading, will NOT resign

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

At a press conference yesterday (3 Dec), SGX clarified that a trading disruption was the result of “unforeseen circumstances” stemming from a software update done over the weekend.

It added that the incident is not related to an earlier one in November when a power supply fluctuation caused trading in stocks and derivatives to be halted for more than 2 hours.

In mitigation, SGX said that yesterday’s disruption had no impact on the trading, clearing and settlement systems.

Rather, the problem stemmed from a back-end system which SGX hosts for some brokers. Brokers were unable to see their own positions as a result of the problem, which was eventually rectified before the trading day started, SGX said.

However, the exchange said it deliberately decided to delay the start of trading so as to let brokers consolidate their processes to get ready for trading.
The exchange said it could have opened trading at the usual time of 9am, but decided to give the handful of brokers who were affected time to get ready so all the players could participate when trading began.

When SGX CEO Magnus Bocker was asked if he would resign over the incident, he said he “would not give up”.

This was not the first time he had faced such challenges, and any renewal of his employment contract would be between him and the SGX board.

Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange CEO resigned over falling volumes

Last year, it was reported that Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) CEO Ester Levanon resigned over falling volumes at the exchange [Link].

Volume dropped 44% from the start of 2010 to the end 2012 on TASE, compared with an 18% average global retreat, and in the first 5 months of 2013, volume fell 7.8%.

“Levanon lost her legitimacy because of the declining volumes,” Yaniv Pagot, chief strategist at Ramat Gan, Israel-based Ayalon Group Ltd., said.

Meanwhile, in its latest quarterly financial results, SGX has reported a net profit drop of 16% in Q1 of FY2015 as trading volume fell [Link].

In the quarter ending September 2014, SGX reported a first-quarter net profit of $78 million, down 16% year-on-year from $92 million, as share trading volumes shrank. Operating revenue fell 8% to $168.9 million from a year earlier.

The exchange’s fourth straight quarterly profit decline came as trading volumes decreased after a slump in the share prices of 3 commodity companies erased $6.9 billion in market value over 3 days in October last year.

Stock trading on the Singapore bourse dropped 28% to a daily average of $959.7 million in the 3 months through 30 September from a year earlier, after slumping 30% in the previous quarter.

“Our securities market continued to be challenging, primarily due to low volatility which more than halved to 6% from 14% a year earlier. The outlook for both the domestic and global markets remains uncertain amid recent turbulence. Against this backdrop, the business environment is challenging,” said SGX CEO Magnus Bocker in October when announcing the FY2015 Q1 results.

Should Mr Bocker resign? What do you think?

http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/12/04...ll-not-resign/


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