A special advisory panel to the Tokyo Stock Exchange held its first meeting Wednesday with an eye toward submitting recommendations by fall on whether the bourse should spin off its regulatory functions.
The ad hoc committee, consisting of 14 outside academics and businesspeople, was set up by the bourse in response to concerns expressed by the Financial Services Agency and other groups that there there might be conflict-of-interest issues if it retains its regulatory functions when the TSE goes public.
The TSE has said it will "respect" the panel's recommendations, but the committee chief, Kenjiro Egashira, suggested Wednesday the results of the panel's discussions could still leave room for the bourse to make its own conclusions.