TMX Group Inc. (TSX: X) today presented the company's business strategy for 2009 and beyond at its 2008 Analyst Day.
Tom Kloet, TMX Group CEO, summarized the company’s overall strategic focus in the context of the current challenging market conditions and evolving exchange landscape. “TMX Group is a unique organization with the essential functions and attributes of neutrality, transparency, liquidity, price discovery, and clearing facilities to meet current and future needs of the Canadian capital markets,” he said. “Our key priorities are to integrate the Montreal Exchange, to continue to enhance our product and service offerings, and to innovate by creating new products and services, with a focus on derivatives.”
Members of the TMX Group senior management team reviewed specific strategies for each area of the business in the half-day webcast session. They are summarized below:
Derivatives Trading
- Development of combined cash and derivatives trading strategies
- Development of new derivatives products including futures contract based on Canadian volatility index, Mini-sized equity index futures contracts, Implied pricing and complex orders as well as derivatives Clearing functionalities
Equity Trading and Trading Technology
- Trading initiatives, including introduction of a smart order router and new order types
- Fee incentives to attract liquidity such as the Electronic Liquidity Provider program; competitive pricing in North America
- New gateway to provide a single point of access for cash and derivatives trading
- Continuing focus on increasing capacity and reducing latency
- New phases of co-location services*
Energy Trading
- Expansion of NGX’s natural gas footprint, particularly in the United States; five new hubs recently added*
- Expansion of crude oil and clearing services through the planned acquisition of NetThruPut
Issuer Services
- Growth initiatives in listings with focus on international small and mid-size companies and cleantech companies
- Service expansion for listed companies including tailored financing vehicles, education and investor relations services
- New listing fees*
Market Data
- Focus on providing more speed, more content from more data sources for TSX Datalinx customers
- Development of new products to meet changing client data requirements, including Consolidated Data Feed and Canadian Best Bid and Offer products*
Summarizing the day, Kevan Cowan, President, TSX Markets and Group Head of Equities, said: “These are indeed interesting and uncertain times, but we believe that the services offered by exchanges and clearinghouses will be even more essential to the capital markets in the future.”
* These initiatives were announced in separate news releases.