TWSE Market Insights

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To realize its long-term vision, Target 2030, Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (“JPX”) announced its Medium-Term Management Plan 2027 on March 26, 2025. The plan is positioned as the second phase toward Target 2030, following the Medium-Term Management Plan 2024, and builds on the foundations established in the first phase. Under the slogan “Exchange & beyond,” JPX seeks to further expand the role of the Group in areas such as markets, products, data, and digital technologies.

JPX also released an update to the Medium-Term Management Plan 2027 on April 30, 2026, setting out progress made during the first year of implementation, additional measures from the second year onward, and future investment priorities. This article begins with JPX’s long-term vision, Target 2030, and then introduces the Medium-Term Management Plan 2027 and summarizes its first-year progress as a reference case for observing exchange strategy and market infrastructure transformation.

JPX’s Medium-Term Management Plan 2027 is based on the Group’s corporate philosophy and long-term vision. JPX’s corporate philosophy is “contributing to realizing an affluent society through sustainable market development.” Based on this philosophy, JPX announced Target 2030 in 2022, setting out its goal of becoming a “global, comprehensive finance and information platform” by 2030. This vision focuses on supporting capital raising and capital circulation, while also seeking to contribute to broader social and economic sustainability through the functions of an exchange platform.

JPX refers to this platform concept as “G-HUB,” which consists of three elements: “Heighten market integrity,” “Unlock opportunity,” and “Benefit society.” JPX has also identified three elements of exchange competitiveness: the quality and quantity of listed products; the number and breadth of investors participating in the market; and the usability of systems and rule frameworks. These elements serve as a foundation for JPX’s subsequent initiatives in stock market reform, diversified product development, data services, and digital innovation.

In line with Target 2030, the Medium-Term Management Plan 2027 builds on the foundation of the previous phase. JPX emphasizes a customer-oriented, “market-in” approach based on the needs of investors, listed companies, and market participants. As a core infrastructure of Japan’s financial and capital markets, JPX aims to enhance trust in the market, strengthen market functions, and support the promotion of Japan as a leading asset management center.

JPX notes several changes in the external environment, including continued corporate governance reform, the launch of the new NISA(Nippon Individual Savings Account) program, increasing geopolitical risks, the shift toward a positive-interest economy, a declining working-age population, and the transition to a sustainable society. Against this background, JPX sets out three core themes in the Medium-Term Management Plan 2027: “Forge a New Era for the Japanese Stock Market,” “Strive to Become a Comprehensive Platform,” and “Collaborate for Digital Innovation.”

Under the first theme, JPX focuses on enhancing the attractiveness of the Japanese stock market to both domestic and overseas investors. The plan covers improvements to the investment environment, enhancement of listed company value, and development of the options market.

In the investment environment, JPX plans measures such as lowering trading units, strengthening minority shareholder protection, expanding ETF product offerings and the investor base, promoting next-generation TOPIX reform, enhancing investor education, and strengthening the dissemination of information on the Japanese stock market. With respect to listed companies, JPX continues to promote corporate governance reform and encourages listed companies to pursue management that is conscious of cost of capital and stock price. It also promotes constructive dialogue between listed companies and investors and supports the continued growth of start-ups after IPO.

In the derivatives market, JPX plans to further develop the options market by diversifying expiration cycles for index options, improving market access and liquidity in the securities options market, and deepening market understanding of options investment strategies.

Under the second theme, JPX aims to strengthen its functions as a more international, diversified, and liquid platform, in line with the policy direction of promoting Japan as a leading asset management center.

JPX plans to expand interest rate-related products and services as Japan shifts toward a positive-interest economy and demand for interest rate risk management increases. Measures include invigorating interest rate derivatives, expanding the use of OTC clearing services, and broadening the investor base for interest rate-related products. JPX also seeks to further develop its role as a core market in Asia by creating a financing environment for growth-oriented Asian companies, expanding overseas trading flows through currency futures, and developing new asset classes in response to market and social needs.

In energy-related products, JPX plans to improve access to the electricity futures market by introducing new products, improving market access for a range of participants, and strengthening cooperation with the electricity spot market. It also continues to study the expansion of LNG(Liquefied Natural Gas) futures trading and the enhancement of energy-related derivatives to support energy price risk management and market functions related to the net-zero transition.

Under the third theme, JPX plans to adopt cutting-edge technologies such as AI, develop the next generation of data services, and contribute to solutions for industry-wide issues.

In data services, JPX aims to enhance data content, increase data transmission frequency and added value, and expand distribution channels through external platforms such as Snowflake. In advanced technologies, JPX plans to apply AI and related technologies to listed company services, operational efficiency, and the creation of new value. It is also studying the use of blockchain or distributed ledger technology to improve post-trade efficiency.

JPX is also studying the establishment of an industry-wide common data platform and considering the shortening of settlement cycles, taking into account international trends.

In its first-year update to the Medium-Term Management Plan 2027, JPX reported progress across several areas.

In the Japanese stock market, JPX continued to promote “management that is conscious of cost of capital and stock price,” strengthened English-language disclosure, advanced Growth Market reform, introduced the JPX Start-Up Acceleration 100 Index, revised rules related to management buyouts and similar transactions, and promoted measures to improve retail investor access and trading efficiency. It also introduced Wednesday-expiring Nikkei 225 mini options, and trading volume in securities options reached a record high in FY2025.

In products and services, JPX introduced currency futures and smaller-sized precious metals futures, including Pocket Gold 100 Futures and Pocket Platinum 100 Futures. Trading volumes in 20-year Japanese government bond futures and electricity futures reached record highs in FY2025, as did yen interest rate swap clearing volume. JPX also obtained approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to provide yen IRS clearing services to U.S. customers, expanded electricity futures, and advanced JJ-Link in cooperation with the Japan Electric Power Exchange.

In data services and digital innovation, JPX launched and enhanced services such as Arrowhead Timestamp Data, J-Quants DataCube, J-Quants Pro, cloud-based index and TDnet disclosure data services, and J-LENS, an AI-based natural language search service for disclosure documents. JPX also continues to introduce AI into listed company information analysis and self-regulatory processes, and has begun studying an industry-wide common data platform for the securities industry.

JPX’s AI-related initiatives consist of three major areas: external information services, self-regulatory operations, and a company-wide AI promotion framework.

In external information services, JPX aims to reduce the burden on investors when searching for and understanding information on the Japanese market. JPX Market Explorer presents financial information and business overviews of listed companies in multilingual and easy-to-understand formats. JPxData Portal uses generative AI to analyze disclosure documents and financial statements and assign tags based on keywords and business content. J-LENS provides a natural language search function for TDnet disclosure documents, allowing users to search for information more intuitively.

In self-regulatory operations, JPX’s self-regulatory organization has used AI in market surveillance operations since 2018 to support investigations of market manipulation and other unfair trading activities. With advances in generative AI and related technologies, JPX is further expanding the use of AI to listing examinations, listed company compliance, and examinations and inspections relating to securities companies and other market participants’ compliance with laws and exchange rules.

At the organizational level, JPX has established the AI Promotion & Communication Committee, chaired by the CEO, with participation from departments responsible for corporate strategy, IT planning, and IT operations. JPX has also assigned personnel responsible for promoting AI use in individual departments, introduced internal generative AI applications and tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, and implemented human resource development measures to support effective AI use.

Growth investment includes the expansion of market functionality and service areas, such as developing an entire interest rate-related product ecosystem through linkage with external partners, accelerating investments and external collaborations to drive the development of data services and other businesses, and discussing the approach to next-generation trading systems and the start of development. Growth investment also includes research and development to pioneer the next generation of market infrastructure, with specific areas including digital securities, streamlining post-trade operations using DLT, and enhancing the functionality of the carbon credit market to work toward a decarbonized society.

Strengthening market foundations includes strengthening the self-regulatory function to further improve trust in the market, as well as further pursuing the reliability and resilience of system infrastructure. Measures include strengthening the functionality of the market surveillance system, providing information to prevent unfair trading, enhancing all types of self-regulatory operations using AI, ensuring stable operation and ongoing improvement of current core systems, strengthening failure tolerance and BCPs across the market through drills in collaboration with market participants, and strengthening cybersecurity measures.

Human capital investment includes the ongoing buildup of human capital through ambitious investment. Related measures include initiatives to improve JPX’s competitive edge in human resources, developing and maintaining an environment where all staff can demonstrate their abilities, expanding recruitment of specialized talent in fields such as digital technology, and strengthening staff education for more thorough implementation of professional ethics.

JPX has established Target 2030 as its long-term vision and is implementing related initiatives in phases through the Medium-Term Management Plans 2024 and 2027. The Medium-Term Management Plan 2027 brings together market attractiveness, listed company value, diversified products and clearing services, data services, AI utilization, system resilience, and human capital under a common framework.

Overall, “Exchange & beyond” reflects JPX’s efforts to expand the scope of its financial and information services while maintaining fair, transparent, and stable market operations, and to move toward its goal of becoming a global, comprehensive finance and information platform. For other exchanges, JPX’s case provides one perspective for observing how exchanges may integrate markets, products, data, technology, and trust mechanisms in developing more comprehensive and adaptable market infrastructure.