Korea Exchange System Failure... FSS Urges Thorough Preparedness for Market Volatility

Financial authorities have urged securities firms and related institutions in the financial investment sector to thoroughly prepare for any potential system failures, citing heightened volatility in the stock market due to the recent situation in the Middle East. This response follows incidents at the Korea Exchange where stock orders were delayed or rejected during a sharp market downturn.

On March 9, the Financial Supervisory Service announced that a special meeting was held at its Yeouido headquarters in the afternoon, presided over by Lee Jongoh, Deputy Governor for Digital and IT at the Financial Supervisory Service. The meeting was attended by Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from 13 securities firms, as well as IT executives from the Korea Financial Investment Association, Korea Exchange, and Nextrade.

Deputy Governor Lee emphasized, "Given the significant increase in market volatility, any system failure caused by concentrated buy and sell orders could result in substantial damage to consumers, so thorough preparation is essential." He called for a detailed review of the electronic financial infrastructure, including the availability and adequacy of processing capacity, in anticipation of surging trading volumes. Specifically, he stressed the need to strengthen monitoring of system resource thresholds, load testing and performance checks for core services such as price inquiry, order placement, and execution, and to secure availability through emergency system resource expansion if necessary.

He also requested, "With the recent market situation being extremely serious, please re-examine your contingency plans to ensure that effective emergency response measures, such as enhanced monitoring for abnormal signs, can be implemented." He added that, in the event of a system failure or other incident, it is critical to restore systems swiftly and to immediately notify financial consumers of any disruptions and alternative order methods to minimize trading interruptions. In addition, he urged thorough preparation against potential cyberattacks—such as DDoS and ransomware—that could exploit market instability caused by geopolitical risks.

According to the financial investment industry, on this day, between 12:30 and 12:33 p.m. and again from 1:39 to 1:41 p.m., some orders at the Korea Exchange were rejected or experienced processing delays due to system issues. It is reported that normal operations have since been restored.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.