All local securities brokerages support the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s change to a continuous trading system, but have concerns about equipment upgrades, exchange chairman Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) told reporters yesterday
The switch, to be completed by March 2020, is to boost trading efficiency and bring the exchange in line with its global peers.
To facilitate a smooth transition, the exchange is to earmark NT$155 million (US$5.07 million) to subsidize new equipment and software for continuous trading, Hsu said, adding that smaller firms would receive higher subsidies.
The exchange is the only one among its global peers that still uses the call auction platform for share transactions, Hsu said.
The platform has caused some inconvenience for foreigner investors, who own about 40 percent of the shares listed on the exchange by market value, he added.
Foreign brokerages’ trading systems must cater to local stock exchange systems, Hsu said.
Under the continuous trading platform, buy and sell orders would be matched up as soon as orders are reported, exchange trading division official Ben Chen (陳正斌) said.
As a result, the mechanism would boost transaction speed and transparency, Chen added.
Asked if the mechanism would help boost turnover, Chen said that it is hard to say, but that it could be appealing to new foreigner investors, as they could use their existing systems to trade local stocks.
Brokerages might need to spend an average of NT$3 million to adjust their trading systems to enable continuous trading, the exchange said.
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