Financial software solutions company SST is set to benefit from two more large IT contracts at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
This is after going live with a new equity derivatives trading system at the bourse yesterday, which it developed from the ground up.
While the JSE has declined to disclose the value of the deal, Allan Thomson, director of trading at the JSE, says it cost "millions", instead of "hundreds of millions", as an offshore solution would have.
"It has proved considerably cheaper than any other offshore solution," he says. "It is a South African design, and costed in rands."
SST was the developer of the original trading and clearing software, which has been in place since the start of electronic trading in 1994, and which has now been replaced.
According to STT MD Michelle Janke: "These systems had to be enhanced to meet the changing needs of the exchange, notably the increased derivative volumes trading. The new systems will eliminate a large amount of manual processes, and provide the exchange with the flexibility that it requires."
SST has been in existence since 1985 and, according to Thomson, will implement two more projects at the JSE in the next 12 months. These are the agricultural derivative platform, and the yield-X platform.
Janke says SST's technical solution has already attracted attention overseas and the company is about to sign contracts with two foreign-based bourses, which cannot yet be disclosed.
However, it took the JSE longer than anticipated to get the new system implemented, due to the bourse expanding the scope of SST's contract.
The solution took three years to develop while the company still had to service its other clients, which includes the likes of the South African Reserve Bank.
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