London Stock Exchange suggests trading disruption was 'suspicious'

An internal investigation has been launched, and relevant authorities have been contacted

London Stock Exchange is investigation a 'suspicious' human error

Trading was disrupted at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for over two hours yesterday morning. The disruption occurred on the LSE's trading platform, known as Turquoise.

A spokesperson for the LSE confirmed that while human error was initially blamed for the problem, preliminary investigations revealed there may be something more underhand going on.

Sources close to the case have said that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is now involved in investigations, and the police may also be contacted. The LSE was unable to provide further details about its suspicions but investigations are ongoing.

The LSE confirmed that the issue was restricted to the Turquoise platform, and the underlying Millennium IT platform was operating well. Turquoise was recently migrated over to Millennium IT, with the migration of the LSE's main market technology now postponed until next year.

"With the investigation ongoing it wouldn’t be responsible to enforce the migration now. We’re also having dress rehearsals and working on feedback from customers – that’s another factor in the decision to postpone," said a spokesperson for the LSE.

The spokesperson added that the migration will now happen in 2011.