PSE says measures in place to address technical issues

THE PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange assured that it had implemented measures to address the technical issues that resulted in recent market disruptions, allowing trading to normalize starting Wednesday.

“The exchange put in place measures to restore normal operations in the market.  As an exchange operator, it is our goal to ensure the availability of our systems for our stakeholders,” PSE president and CEO Hans Sicat said in a press statement on Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, a trading halt was implemented from 10:02 a.m. to 2:55 p.m. after technical issues erupted on the transmission of trading data in the front-end trading terminals of the PSE.  While the trading engine provided by NASDAQ was fully functioning, the front-end trading terminals used by trading participants as their primary order execution interface or as their back-up system experienced technical issues.

The PSE also briefly halted trading in the market on Monday when it observed data transmission issues in the trading terminals. This was the day when stock markets across the globe were on a freefall due to concerns on the Chinese economy.

“The Exchange is cognizant of the impact of these technical problems to the investing public and the various stakeholders. The PSE exerted all efforts to resolve the technical issues with utmost urgency and we appreciate the understanding extended to us. We continue to monitor the situation with an eye to avert similar incidents from happening in the future,” Sicat explained.  On speculations about the timing of the trading halts, Sicat said: “We reiterate that the decline of the index was not the reason behind the trading halt.  Even on occasions of extreme volatilities, markets should settle by themselves. Halts only come into play once circuit breakers are triggered.”

On Aug. 18, the PSE also halted trading in the stock market due to technical issues.

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement earlier on Wednesday that it was “closely monitoring” the development in the local stock market, including the glitches that happened on Aug. 18, 24 and 25 that resulted in three occasions of market trading halt on these days. SEC chair Teresita Herbosa said the corporate watchdog had ordered the PSE to submit by the end of this week, a “full and thorough report on these glitches and trading halts.”

In the wake of these technical issues that had disrupted trading in earlier days, the PSE’s chief technology officer, Emmanuel Caintic, resigned from office effective Sept 1. The resignation was announced a day after a lengthy trading disruption that had drawn flak from investors on Tuesday.

In a subsequent disclosure posted on Thursday, the PSE said: “Caintic cited personal reasons for his resignation expressing his desire to move on to other ventures.”

PSE president Hans Sicat, for his part, has apologized to all stakeholders for the trading disruptions on Tuesday. He explained that the trading halt was “the right thing to do” to be fair to all market players.