Japan: TSE to be more foreigner-friendly

Masaki Okada

July 10, 2008

Japan’s stock markets have struggled lately as foreign investors abandon the country in droves; the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, suffers from the perception that listing on it is still too difficult for foreign companies and that it is prone to technological problems.

"The Japanese market is not closed at all. Our market is being run under the most liberal and democratic system in Asia"
Atsushi Saito, Tokyo Stock Exchange

A recent insider trading scandal didn’t help matters. In this translated interview with Masaki Okada, co-editor of the Euromoney Japanese Edition, Atsushi Saito, president and CEO of the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group, answers these criticisms and elaborates on his plans for a “universal exchange”. In its medium-term business plan, the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group refers to a “universal exchange.” Can you be more specific about that goal?

Atsushi Saito: With the universal exchange approach, we will make products traded on the TSE as universal as possible. At the same time, we will invite as many exchanges in the rest of Asia as possible to converge on Tokyo in one way and another, which is a key aspect of our universal exchange concept.

We will shortly create a new market exclusively for professionals—institutional investors – by tying up with the London Stock Exchange. The Alternative Investment Market of the LSE is a guide for us in launching the proposed new market.

Japan: TSE to be more foreigner-friendly

Japan’s stock markets have struggled lately as foreign investors abandon the country in droves; the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, suffers from the perception that listing on it is still too difficult for foreign companies and that it is prone to technological problems.

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