Committee of inquiry releases findings on SGX's Nov market glitch

THE Singapore Exchange's massive market meltdown in November 2014 was caused by a component failure plus a flawed power supply design at the bourse's data centre, a board committee of inquiry convened to investigate the issue told a press briefing on Wednesday.

Specifically, a component in the SGX's backup power generator malfunctioned in the afternoon of Nov 5, 2014. The power system at the data centre then switched to an alternative backup generator, but that switch triggered a power trip and subsequently a total power outage.

The entire incident led to securities trading being disrupted for nearly three hours and the derivatives market suffering an outage lasting about four and a half hours, the committee noted in a report.

The committee, which had completed its probe by the start of April this year, said that the bourse should modify its power supply system and improve its monitoring. The SGX should also have hired independent experts to evaluate the power supply design, it added in a statement.

In the wake of the committee's findings, the exchange told a briefing on Wednesday that it has fixed the root cause of the glitch and accepts the panel's recommendations.

SGX chief executive Magnus Bocker said at the briefing, held in the SGX boardroom, that the bourse would accelerate its investment in technology infrastructure and has improved its business continuity management.

Steps to enhance the SGX's power infrastructure are in progress and will be implemented by the end of September 2015, he said.

The committee of inquiry was made up of four SGX board directors - Quah Wee Ghee, who chaired the panel; SGX chairman Chew Choon Seng; Kevin Kwok and Lee Hsien Yang.

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