The Tokyo Stock Exchange, Asia's biggest, may postpone its public offering planned for this fiscal year due to a spat with Japan's financial watchdog over the TSE's regulatory functions, the bourse's president said on October 13.
The TSE, which lists more than 2,300 companies and accounts for about 90 percent of stock trading in Japan, had aimed for an initial public offering (IPO) this business year to March, following in the footsteps of other exchanges in Asia and Europe.
But the Financial Services Agency asked the TSE to spin off its regulatory functions, such as the screening of listing applications, throughing a wrench in the bourse's plans. The TSE must have FSA approval to go public, which it might not recieve if it fails to make its regulatory arm independent.
The TSE in July set up a special independent commitee to discuss the stock exchange's regulatory function and how it should be carried out. The 14-member panel concluded on Thursday the bourse should adopt a committee-based corporate governance structure to ensure transparency and fairness at the TSE after it becomes a listed company, said TSE President and CEO Takuo Tsurushima.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the world's largest stock market, plans to spin off its regulatory arm into an independent, not-for-profit organisation to ensure fairness and transparency when it goes public. The Osaka Securities Exchange, Japan's second largest bourse and home to over 960 firms, went public in April 2004 while maintaining its regulatory functions.
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