The National Association of Securities Dealers Inc has struck an agreement with Softbank Corp for the creation of a new electronic stock market in Japan. The two entities have jointly capitalized a company called Nasdaq-Japan, and say the new market will begin operating in the fourth quarter of 2000. Nasdaq-Japan will be built on the Nasdaq’s screen-based approach to trading securities and will heavily leverage the internet.
The goal of the market is to offer Japanese investors the opportunity to invest in high-tech and high-growth stocks and to provide enhanced access to equity capital for emerging Japanese firms. The market will offer around-the-clock electronic trading of all Nasdaq-listed stocks and index products, as well as any Japanese companies that choose to list on it. Likewise, US investors will have the opportunity to invest in Japanese firms through dual listings of companies on both Nasdaq-Japan and the US-based Nasdaq.
Discussions with a group of leading Japanese and US securities houses have begun in the hopes of establishing the initial core group of market maker firms for the new entity. The Nasdaq-Japan will be a private, for-profit organization, owned equally by the NASD and Softbank, and will be led a Japanese chief executive officer.
