Scripless trading on JSX to start in January

JAKARTA (JP): All share transactions on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) will be settled by PT Kliring Deposit Efek Indonesia through the netting system beginning on Monday.

"The full application of the netting system to settle all share transactions is the final step before the introduction of a scripless trading on the JSX in early January," Bacelius Ruru, Chairman of the Capital Market Supervisory Agency said yesterday.

Ruru told a news conference that a transition of at least four months is needed to shift from the netting system to fully automated trading system.

KDEI's director Sumantri Slamet who also attended the press meeting said that the netting system had been used since early this year initially for settling the transactions of four share issues. It was later extended to sixty issues.

KDEI, the agency responsible for clearing and settling share transactions on the JSX and the Surabaya Stock Exchange (SSE), is owned jointly by seven state banks, JSX and SSE.

The main task of KDEI is to improve the efficiency of the clearing and settlement process in domestic capital markets to meet the needs of capital market participants as well as the international standards.

Under the automated trading system, securities certificates will be immobilized or stored in a central depository to facilitate the legal transfer of title and eliminate securities movements in the settlement process.

Ruru hoped that the netting system would soon be introduced on the SSE and the over the counter market (parallel market).

KDEI invested more than $150,000 in the development of its soft-ware system and hired about 130 employees, 70 percent of which are clearing specialists. (icn)