The Exchange has developed a new Midterm Management Plan covering the three-year period from fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2017.
In order to quickly address changes in its business environment, the Exchange has adopted rolling annual updates of its three-year Midterm Management Plan.
In the first half of fiscal 2014, as foreign exchange volatility stayed low and prices of our main products had limited movement, trading volume dropped significantly. In the second half, volatility in the foreign exchange market and the commodity market soared due to expectations for higher interest rate at the end of the Quantitative Easing Program 3 (QE3) in the U.S., concerns about economic slowdown in the EU and China and the plunge of crude oil prices due to the supply/demand balance in the oil market. In addition, we have steadily implemented the measures proposed by the “Advisory Panel on Turning-Around TOCOM’s Business” from September 2014 and trading volume has drastically improved. However, full-year daily average trading volume (April 2014 through February 2015) remains weak at 93,000 contacts/day (down 5% year-on-year) as first-half results weighed heavily.
Given the situation, the new "Midterm Management Plan (Fiscal 2015-2017)" has adopted the following three principle management strategies, together with related priority initiatives. By steadily executing these measures, the Exchange will strive to improve market liquidity, stabilize our business foundation and continue to develop a comprehensive energy market.
1. Creation of a business foundation that is structurally stable and minimally affected by the external factors
- Initiatives to achieve revenue growth
- Reduction of system costs through the joint use of the next-generation derivative trading system of the Japan Exchange Group (JPX)
- Continuation of ongoing cost-cutting efforts
- Strengthening PR activities to improve the recognition and perception of commodity futures trading
- Measures to improve market convenience and reliability
- Respond to the tightening of risk management regulations
2. Development of a comprehensive energy market
- Preliminary analysis towards development of an electricity market
- Prepare for to develop an LNG futures market
- Research toward the listing of coal, LPG, etc.
- Endeavor to make the Japan OTC Exchange (JOE) markets more active
3. Strengthen coordination with other exchanges
- Strengthen coordination with the JPX
- Strengthen coordination with exchanges in other countries
(*) For more details, please refer to the “Midterm Management Plan (Fiscal 2015-2017)” attached hereto.