TMS report makes system resilience a trading risk
NEPSE’s proposed safeguards give traders a new test: whether brokers can keep access running during a technology failure.
For traders, the preliminary TMS-outage report makes technology resilience a practical risk to assess alongside prices and liquidity. It does not yet change order rules, but it points toward stronger safeguards that could determine whether trading access remains available during a future disruption.
What NEPSE proposed
Nepal Stock Exchange has submitted its initial findings to the Securities Board of Nepal after an infrastructure attack disrupted the trading-management systems hosted for 72 brokers. The interruption was serious enough to stop trading on Asoj 5, after technical trouble had appeared at the data hub the previous day.
The proposed response includes timely information-technology audits covering systems, software, servers and other digital infrastructure. NEPSE also recommended vulnerability checks every three months, together with backups made at intervals or in real time and kept separately from the main system so they can be restored when needed.
Other measures include multi-factor authentication, approved antivirus software and more cautious handling of suspicious emails and messages. These steps would raise the operational standard expected of the exchange and its trading members, even though the submission is not a final determination of responsibility or cause.
Why concentration matters
The report highlights the market-wide exposure created when one hosting arrangement supports the systems of 72 brokers. A fault in that shared environment can therefore restrict access across a large part of the market at once. NEPSE has suggested that brokers develop separate or individually controlled trading, storage and backup infrastructure, which could make continuity more expensive but reduce dependence on one point of failure.
NEPSE said continuing the affected session could have damaged its central trading platform, prompting the shutdown. The index nevertheless closed at 2,695.6 on 29 October, up 31.54 points, or 1.18%, while gaining 2.65% over five sessions and 2.96% over 20 sessions. The market’s recent rise does not resolve the separate question of whether access can withstand another outage.
What would change the picture
The next decisive step is NEPSE’s final report, which is expected to examine the underlying cause and fuller corrective plan. For traders, the proposal becomes more material when the Securities Board reviews it and the safeguards face a live market-continuity test.
For information only. Not investment advice.