JPX Monthly Headlines

On March 8, JPX hosted a "Ring the Bell for Gender Equality" ceremony to celebrate International Women's Day in partnership with UN Global Compact, UN Women, Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiatives, International Finance Corporation, the World Federation of Exchanges, and Women in ETFs.
The special guest this year was Mr. Kazuyuki Nakane, State Minister of Cabinet Office. He talked about the expectations for a society where women can further advance and presented the initiatives of the Cabinet Office in terms of women's empowerment. Following the bell-ringing ceremony, a symposium for representatives of listed companies and institutional investors was held. The symposium showcased the efforts of enterprises that proactively engage in efforts geared toward the advancement of women and investors who incorporate information on women's advancement into their investment decisions. This was the first year for this symposium, and it was a huge success, attracting a large number of participants.

TSE has been granting the Corporate Value Improvement Award since 2012 to listed companies whose management places emphasis on capital costs and other investor-centric factors, thereby significantly improving their corporate value. In connection to the Award, TSE also holds a Corporate Value Improvement Award Symposium every year to give all listed companies the opportunity to learn more about the importance of steering management toward corporate value improvement. The symposium showcases actual initiatives and concrete examples of how the management at awarded companies have improved corporate value by focusing on investor's viewpoints (i.e., capital cost).
This year, the symposium was held at Nikkei Hall on March 12. Following the keynote speech on the role of management in generating corporate value by Mr. Kunio Ito (Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Hitotsubashi University), representatives from the Grand Prix winner, DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD. along with the recipients of the Excellence Awards, Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., NIDEC CORPORATION, and UNICHARM CORPORATION presented their respective cases.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and TSE jointly select listed companies that are outstanding in terms of encouraging women's success as Nadeshiko Brand Stocks. These consist of TSE listed companies that are advancing initiatives to encourage women's participation in the work place such as by creating environments conducive to retaining female talent. The initiative aims to garner interest toward such companies among investors and to accelerate efforts in encouraging women's advancement at listed companies.
This initiative is now in its seventh year. Each year, the selection committee assesses all TSE listed companies. This year, out of approximately 3,600 companies, 42 across 25 industries were selected and announced in recognition of their efforts and disclosure of such efforts that are deemed necessary in diversity-focused management to realize corporate value improvement.

TSE has been studying and discussing various matters concerning the ideal market structure since 2018 and published a summary of public comments on review of the TSE cash equity market structure. For the review, TSE conducted public consultation on the main discussion points from December 2018 to January 2019, in addition to interviews with market participants. The publication includes an outline of the discussion points of various issues regarding the current market structure based on these comments. While taking into consideration the contents of the public comments, TSE will continue discussions with market participants to formulate a concrete plan.

JPX formulated its 3rd Medium-Term Management Plan for the three years from FY2019 to FY2021. Under rapid innovation and global dynamics, JPX aims to evolve into a total smart exchange where anyone can trade any product in a secure and easy way by further cooperating with stakeholders and entering into new partnerships as indicated in the basic policy of the management plan with the slogan: Sail to the future. Keep the market secure.
JPX aims to continue being a leading market in the world by working on initiatives based on four core strategies: (1) pursue "the shape of the market" toward the next generation, (2) launch and develop a comprehensive exchange, (3) diversify and propel data services into the next generation, and (4) develop a foundation to support the future of our business and society.

JPX and Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) entered into a basic agreement in order to conduct advance discussions on the realization of a comprehensive exchange and business combination after reaching a consensus that a comprehensive exchange can raise corporate value for both companies and boost the derivatives market in Japan. The creation of a comprehensive exchange will enable one-stop trading of various products under unified regulations and infrastructure, attracting more diversified investors including financial institutions, and thereby significantly improving liquidity in the commodity derivatives market.