The Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) and the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have terminated their memorandum of agreement (MOA), which was signed back in February.
The deal was initially struck to create a jointly-owned equity options trading platform for the Japanese market. However, the OSE has said it plans to focus on its core business following market developments in Japan.
On 2 August OSE announced that it had established a project team to implement a next-generation trading platform in response to an increasingly competitive environment. The exchange will announce the replacement outline, which will include the system developer and the target date for replacement, at the end of September. It hopes to have the new trading system in place by early 2010.
“This adoption of a new strategic direction will allow us to concentrate on growing out core business and further improving our technology platform,” said Michio Yoneda, president and CEO of the OSE, in a statement. “We deeply regret the termination of the MOA with ISE and offer our sincere appreciation for ISE’s understanding in the matter.”
Gary Katz, president and CEO of ISE, added, “Although we are deeply disappointed that our joint venture with OSE did not come to fruition, we recognise OSE’s corporate responsibilities have changed and we respect their decision to end discussions related to our joint project.”