JSX to start remote trading by June

BOGOR (JP): The Jakarta Stock Exchange will introduce a remote trading system beginning June next year in a bid to boost the participation of local investors.

JSX president Mas Achmad Daniri said that the adoption of remote trading system was also part of preparations for online trading via the Internet.

"Remote trading and access to brokers in cities outside Jakarta will help build a strong base for local investors," he said following the opening of a securities company branch office here.

Daniri declined to divulge how much the JSX would set aside to develop the remote trading system, saying that details had to wait for the company's general shareholders' meeting.

Daniri said previously that developing the remote trading system might cost the exchange operator some Rp 20 billion (around US$2.2 million).

He further said that before remote trading could become widespread, traders must also upgrade their trading system.

According to him, in applying the right system, JSX would seek technologies that would suit investors' needs and were also up to date.

Using a remote trading system, traders from outside Jakarta could access the stock market and execute on-line trades.

"If the system is fully adapted by traders, their presence on the trading floor would become unnecessary," Daniri said, adding that remote trading was an alternative to expanding the market penetration.

He said that there were several ways to expand the market, including opening of securities companies branches in the other major cities.

On Friday securities company PT Perdana Futura Centra Investama (PDFCI), a former subsidiary of the now defunct Bank PDFCI, opened its fifth branch in Bogor.

PDFCI president Nenny Sutanto said the company expanded its operation to Bogor because the city had many middle-class citizens who were potential investors.

She said the company had invested some Rp 250 million in the branch and was operating other branches in Medan, North Sumatra, Palembang, South Sumatra, Batam and in Bali.

PDFCI also plans to open branches in Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

Asked why PDFCI was expanding, she said the company was upbeat that the now sluggish stock market would improve in the future.

"We prepare umbrellas before it rains so that once the market is growing we'll benefit from our investments," she explained.

The company's finance director Antony further said that PDFCI planned to go public next year. (bkm)