The Tokyo Stock Exchange's parent company says it has set up an independent committee to investigate alleged insider trading by an employee of the exchange.

The employee in his 20s is suspected of providing his family with privileged information on a corporate takeover bid. He had access to the information through his work at the TSE.

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has already raided his home and other locations in search of evidence.

The Japan Exchange Group, which operates the TSE, called a news conference on Tuesday.

CEO Yamaji Hiromi offered apologies to all stakeholders and said the company will fully cooperate with the surveillance commission.

Yamaji said: "We take this incident very seriously. The investigation of a TSE employee undermines trust in the market. We will strive to regain that trust by identifying the cause of this incident and introducing measures to prevent it happening again."

The company says it set up a committee of four external directors last month to assess how the suspected violation of trading rules took place.

The committee is said to be evaluating employee training programs, information security and work processes.

It will announce its findings as soon as the investigation is complete.