A Smart Nation needs a smart exchange

THE United States has Edgar, an online database run by the Securities and Exchange Commission that lets investors download company filings in formats that are straightforward for both humans and machines to read. The Hong Kong bourse's accessible listed company filings go as far back as 2000. And in Australia, investors can look for announcements as far back as 1998, as well as filings published on a specific date.

The Singapore Exchange? Well, it has StockFacts, an online service that lets investors screen securities by criteria such as market capitalisation and price-to-equity ratio. That will undoubtedly be useful for current and would-be investors interested in company information.

But when it comes to looking up other corporate data for Singapore-listed firms, investors will run up against a host of obstacles. Taking steps to remove any needless friction for market participants who want to use computer scripts to extract and analyse market data would surely help the local bourse gain a reputation for being technologically savvy and steal a march on its regional rivals as competition heats up between bourses worldwide.