SMARTS System To Improve Market Credibility And Convenience At The Tokyo Commodity Exchange

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), one of the largest commodity futures exchanges in the world has signed an agreement with SMARTS Pty Ltd for the SMARTS real-time market surveillance system. The system will be used for TOCOM's commodities futures and options markets. SMARTS is expected to be integrated into TOCOM by June 2005 by NTT Data, system integrator of TOCOM's trading engine. I n response to increasing competition among local and international exchanges it is instructive to see market integrity so high on their agenda. TOCOM is firmly of the view that this move will significantly differentiate it from it's competitors.

Mr. Masaaki Nangaku the Chairman of TOCOM said, "SMARTS has demonstrated its innovative and leading capabilities in the area of market surveillance. By adopting SMARTS, TOCOM is confident to be able to continue to offer customers a credible and convenience market for hedging and investment in the increasingly competitive market."

Welcoming the news, Dr. Michael Aitken, Director of SMARTS Pty Ltd said ". we applaud TOCOM's commitment to be the market leader in all aspects of its marketplace and in particular its commitment to promoting market integrity. By adopting the SMARTS system, TOCOM joins an informal global network of 18 other exchanges and regulators across 14 countries around the world who currently enjoy the increased integrity and ultimately efficiency that our system has to offer. TOCOM will also be a major beneficiary of SMARTS' unique long-time investment in research and development through its association with the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (www.cmcrc.com)(CMCRC). The CMCRC uniquely focuses on the design and building of fraud detection systems for the financial services marketplace. Comprising approximately 80 staff including 50 full-time PhD students the research resources of the CMCRC are an added bonus of the decision to adopt SMARTS with many cutting-edge innovations in alert design, visualization and data base design emanating from the centre."

TOCOM offers the world's largest futures markets for platinum, gasoline and kerosene and second largest for gold, palladium and rubber. In 2004 TOCOM traded over 74 million contracts.