JSE gets new IT system running
Leanne Parsons, chief operating officer of the JSE, likened the achievement of phase one to being at “base camp”.
“We still have two more phases to go, building on the foundations established by the launch of phase one. We will see these next two going live in 2007.”
Project Orion is part of the exchange’s broader efforts to strengthen its role as a competitive force in the global financial marketplace, increase the exchange’s efficiency, improve customer service and facilitate the introduction of new products.
Phase one involves internal changes to the reference data systems, billing software, feeds from the trading platforms, communications systems and databases.
Parsons said “the spaghetti situation of many systems has now been replaced by an integrated service, with minimal, in fact zero, disruption to the market during rigorous testing and going live”.
Of phase two, Parsons said: “Derivatives traders will have a cutting-edge, stable and reliable trading system which will be able to integrate into JSE members’ front-office environments with greater simplicity.”
Phase three will replace the existing Broker Deal Accounting system and the equities clearing and settlement systems.
Phase three also includes a replacement of the JSE’s surveillance system, which then permits more effective regulation through one central point of surveillance for all financial instruments.
The project has undergone delays and postponements but Parsons said the original timetable was “quite” ambitious.
“As our business is dynamic and new products were being developed, we changed some specifications and this saw the deadlines being moved out.”
Parsons said the JSE expected to achieve a return on investment from Project Orion in about four years, based on a projected reduction in operating expenses.
She said listed companies and stockbroker members would share the benefits of the cost reductions and, ideally, pass these to the investor.
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