The Korea Exchange (KRX, www.krx.co.kr), the world’s second largest derivatives exchange, has completed an upgrade of its trading system, creating an advanced platform for the benefit of investors in the Korean market.
The upgrade, which involved aligning the trading, settlement and information distribution systems, establishes a more efficient platform for obtaining product information.
It is scheduled to start operating on March 23.
The next-generation system includes the KIND (KRX E-Disclosure) & Data Warehouse Systems which have both been operating since August 2008, a Market Surveillance System, operating since October 2008, and the Trading & Settlement Systems, which will commence operation in March.
Kim Jeong-woo, CIO of KRX, commented on the launch: “The next-generation system maximizes efficiency, flexibility and stability. With its integrated functionality we are confident the system will prove to be the best, and most modern, of its kind. Within the new system, all functions including order submissions, trading execution, price information delivery and client account management have been integrated and standardized as a single process.”
Providing more details on the new system, Mr. Kim added: “Capacity following the introduction of our new next-generation system will increase to 40 million quotes per day, twice the current volume. Trade executions or latency time, once the system comes into effect, will decrease to less than 0.08 seconds per transaction and this will make our system one of the fastest in the world. We are pleased with this advancement and are looking forward to accommodating a wide range of financial product ranges as prescribed by the Korean Capital Market Consolidation Act.”
The existing Main Frame environment has been converted to an Open Unix environment to maximize operating efficiency. In case of failure, the dual system allows for back-up equipment to automatically convert/restore the system on a real-time basis. To cope with disasters such as fire, flooding, and earthquake, Disaster Recovery (DR) systems have been constructed in Seoul (for systems related to derivatives) and in Busan (for systems related to equities), so if one computer center collapses, the other area’s DR takes over.
Member companies will be able to test the new system any time from now until March 23.