PSE tests new trading system ahead of May launch

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange will undertake a market rehearsal of its new trading system later this month in line with its full launch in May.

The operator of the country’s stock market said the market rehearsal would be the first of many cycles that will be conducted and will also cover testing for the disaster recovery site.

The new trading system, called PSEtrade XTS, will replace the current trading engine of the PSE starting May this year.

“We are optimistic that the first as well as the succeeding tests will be successful and that everything will proceed in time for our target launch in May,” PSE president and chief executive officer Hans B. Sicat said.

To ensure preparedness for the tests, the PSE started its regular broker training on the new terminal since November last year.

To date, the PSE said only a fourth of the total number of trading participants have yet to finish their training.

The PSE also started its broker system certification last Jan. 6. The exchange is working with the users of the trading system towards attaining a 100-percent certification rate.

“We are pleased that the preparations for the new trading system are moving as scheduled. We are grateful for the support extended to our team by the broker community and the data vendors to make sure that all goes well,” Sicat said.

The PSE has earlier assured trading participants there would be no hike in access fees for the new PSE trading system.

The PSEtrade XTS will power the PSE’s trading platform which currently trades equities and exchange-traded funds using the Nouveau Système de Cotation (NSC) developed by a unit of the New York Stock Exchange.

In July last year, the PSE engaged the services of Nasdaq to be the system provider of the new trading system that will replace the PSEtrade NSC that was in use since 2010.