BROKERS are getting ready to abandon the ageing and glitch-ridden Sesops trading system after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) moved to fast-track the replacement of its trading engine.

By year-end, most of them will be using a new system by a French software developer called GL Trade, to key in their trades.

The switch by the brokerages is in tandem with SGX's move to install Quest-ST, a trading engine to match buyers and sellers, to replace the Central Limit Order Book by July next year - almost a year earlier than planned.

Because of the changeover, Sesops - the 17-year-old trading system supplied by SGX and currently used by dealers to key in their trades - will have to be replaced as well, as it cannot be hooked up to Quest-ST.

SGX decided to bring forward the implementation of its new trading engine, following a big outcry among dealers over two recent breakdowns in trading because of computer glitches.

The first breakdown occurred on Feb 28 when SGX computers could not cope with the massive logjam of orders during the final hour of trading as investors reacted to a global selldown of shares.

Barely a month later, another breakdown occurred affecting brokerages using Sesops terminals.

With the changeover, dealers are hoping that computer glitches will be a thing of the past.

'Sesops is outdated and should have been replaced years ago, but SGX made two missteps,' one remisier recounted.

'First, it tried to give us SGXTrade but the system was so full of glitches it had to be dumped.

'Then they wasted another year tying up with OMX for a system that is double the cost of GL Trade.'

In moving ahead with Quest-ST, however, SGX has put the onus on the brokers to maintain operational responsibilities for their own trading system.

They can either adopt their own technology, or choose one of two alternatives - a system jointly developed by SGX and Scandinavian firm OMX, or GL Trade, which is being used by a few brokerages such as OCBC Securities.

In a statement, SGX said that it had helped to facilitate a deal with GL Trade. Brokerages have already signed up for more than 2,600 terminals.

SGX chief executive Hsieh Fu Hua said 'the technology refresh is crucial to raising the performance and reliability of SGX trading infrastructure' and to introducing innovative products.

One stockbroking director said the target is to have a 'tradeable system' for brokerages to enable dealers to key in their orders by the end of this year.

Enhancements like setting up a risk management system will follow suit two months later.

Giving his feedback on GL Trade, OCBC remisier Albert Fong said it has many more features than Sesops.

'When the market is very hot, GL Trade allows you to withdraw or amend orders very fast. And you are not confined to Singapore. You can customise the screen to see KL shares' live prices as well,' he said.

But there is a perception among dealers that GL Trade is slower than Sesops in getting the orders through.

'I have GL Trade and Sesops side by side. Every morning, when I test how fast the order appears on the screen, Sesops always comes out on top,' said Mr Fong.

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