Capital Markets | Stock Markets
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)will soon have direct competition from an alternative equity-trading platform, also to be located in the heart of Toronto’s financial district, known as Bay Street. Aequitas plans to open for business in March 2015 and begin taking new listings in May. The Ontario Securities Commission approved the new stock exchange late last year with a view to spurring much-needed competition to the TSX and its parent TMX Group, which controls 74% of equity trading in Canada.
Insiders also hope Aequitas will curb the controversial practice of high-frequency trading, which has in recent years plagued the TSX. It occurs when a small group of predatory investors quickly move money in and out of a market to turn a fast profit at the expense of long-term investors, such as pension and mutual funds.
Aequitas’s founding shareholders include RBC Dominion Securities, Barclays and telecommunications giant BCE.
