NYSE Group is set to announce a strategic alliance with the Tokyo Stock Exchange when the New York Stock Exchange opens for the Wednesday session.
NYSE Group Chief Executive John Thain and Tokyo Stock Exchange Chief Executive Taizo Nishimuro will attend the briefing to discuss the tie-up, which would link the top U.S. and Asian stock exchanges and could incorporate technology and listing arrangements.
NYSE representatives and a TSE spokesman declined to comment further on the alliance.
The tie-up follows the Big Board's acquisition earlier this month of a stake in India's National Stock Exchange, the biggest stock exchange in that country, and only weeks after NYSE shareholders approved a historic $14 billion merger with Paris-based Euronext.
Japan's Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday the two exchanges would jointly develop exchange-traded funds (ETF) and other products, while they also coordinate systems and simplify listing requirements.
A special panel, to be formed as early as next month, will decide details, the paper said. A cross-shareholding may be considered after the Tokyo bourse goes public in 2009, it said.
NYSE and TSE will begin helping brokerages to establish and sell ETFs, which would include stocks listed on both bourses and benchmark stock indexes, the paper said.
Since the TSE plans to create its own next-generation trading system in 2009, the two exchanges will jointly develop surrounding systems, it said.