MAS warns of supervisory action against SGX, says market disruption 'unacceptable'

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) called the software bug that delayed Wednesday's stock market opening "unacceptable" and warned that it could take supervisory action against the Singapore Exchange (SGX) if necessary.

"MAS has registered its disappointment and concerns with SGX over the delayed opening of its securities market caused by a software defect," an MAS spokesman said in a statement. "The lapse is unacceptable, coming within weeks of the recent power breakdown on Nov 5. MAS has instructed SGX board and CEO to do a thorough review to address the shortcomings that led to the lapse. MAS will not hesitate to take supervisory actions against SGX if necessary."

The statement came after SGX delayed Wednesday's stock market open to 12.30pm following a software defect that affected post-trade processing on Monday. The delay was to allow members to complete client position reconciliations and rectify any errors on the securities client-accounting system hosted by SGX on behalf of member firms. The market will close as normal after 5pm.

The software defect that caused the problem has been fixed, SGX said.

This is the second major market disruption in a month. On Nov 5, the stock and derivatives markets were shut down in the afternoon following a failure in the power management system.

SGX formed a board-level committee to investigate the Nov 5 shutdown. The committee has been tasked to oversee the investigations, review the incident and recommend improvements.

A preliminary investigation report was submitted to MAS on Nov 20.

Updates: