Korea kicks off AI surveillance system for stock market

South Korea's main bourse operator said Thursday it began the full implementation of an artificial intelligence (AI) market oversight system as part of its effort to better head off any abnormal trading.

Wrapping up 18 months of development and tests, the Korea Exchange (KRX) started operating the state-of-the-art system named EXIGHT, a combination of the words "Exchange" and "Sights" to symbolize its monitoring duties of the stock market.

The new system is able to trace and analyze trading patterns based on 54 market variables, compared with the previous methodology that employed two to three factors, boosting chances to spot any unusual signs in a faster and precise manner, according to the KRX.

Several cutting-edge analytic tools in the system also enable users to utilize data more easily to serve diverse purposes, the operator said, adding it will integrate the market surveillance system that was separated into two ― one for stock trading and the other for derivatives.

"It used to take five days to secure data for suspicious transactions, but it will be reduced to less than one hour. The usual two-month process ― from figuring out unfair trading to reporting the incidents to relevant institutions ― is also expected to be shortened to around 40 days," KRX official Kim Kang-cheol said.

"We will strive to provide an optimum solution to better serve the interests of investors." (Yonhap)