With recent corporate recovery and improvement led by the private sector, institutional changes such as the revision of securities taxation system, and the spread of internet trading, Japan's securities market is progressing steadily while maintaining an average daily trading value of around one trillion yen.
On the other hand, however, we are now in the unfortunate situation of potentially losing investor trust in the market as a result of incidents last year involving information disclosure by certain listed companies.
In such times, in order to help implement Japan's policy of shifting from "savings to investments," we need to secure trust toward the securities market and attract even more investors to maintain a market with abundant liquidity.
Considering these factors, this year at TSE we intend to promptly and steadily carry out the following measures.
First, we will operate our market with a greater emphasis on the fundamental importance that fair corporate management from an investor point of view and timely and appropriate corporate information disclosure have in constituting a base for trust in the securities market.
We will swiftly implement the revisions we announced last year to our listing system while making efforts toward enhancing timely and appropriate information disclosure. We will also conduct various activities to promote improvements in corporate governance practices as well as encourage listed companies to implement management methods that take full account of the securities market and investors.
Moreover, using the recently-established TSE Academy and its diverse curriculum as a base, we will support the spread of individual financial managing by supplying knowledge and information that keeps up with today's ever-changing financial environment. By promoting education about securities and striving toward making the market more attractive, we are aiming to broaden our investor base.
To enhance our stature as the leading market in Asia, we are actively promoting the listing of stocks from both home and abroad as we strengthen TSE's international role as a place to raise capital and manage assets.
In addition to this, starting this month TSE will chair the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), which will enable us to develop closer ties with other exchanges and further increase our international presence.
Having outlined some of our main aims for this year, I would also like to mention that this will be a vital year for TSE as we work toward realizing the listing of our own shares on our market, which has been a key part of our management plan.
With the listing of our stock we aim to realize the high level of potential that becoming a stock corporation brings by further improving our management efficiency and gaining access to a diverse means to raise capital. As the central market of Japan, we will also put forth our utmost efforts to strengthen market functions and continue to build and develop a sound market.
Best wishes for the New Year.
Takuo Tsurushima
President and CEO
Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.