Taurus (Transfer and Automated Registration of Uncertified Stock) was a program that set out to transfer the London Stock Exchange from paper communication to an automated system. Taurus was implemented with the hopes of reducing time taken and cost, increasing convenience and meeting political expectations.
It was started in the 1980s and at the time several systems were up and running that achieved this goal but Taurus was to be bigger and better. The problem was that they had no concise scope, resulting in scope creep and cost overrun. Taurus eventually cost £75 million and was replaced with CREST.
With seventeen proposed systems, the designers behind Taurus tried to merge the ideas of the people involved, creating a Frankenstein's monster that reaped damages of £500 million. The Sunday Times described its failure to build the system as "the beginning of the end for the London Stock Exchange."
The project was abandoned in March 1993.