AUSTIN — As the eighth largest economy in the world and home to Fortune 500 headquarters, Texas also has the largest financial services workforce in the United States, now surpassing New York, according to the Governor’s office.
Last month, Governor Greg Abbott today celebrated the announcement by Nasdaq, Inc. to launch their own Texas financial exchange, Nasdaq Texas. Nasdaq Texas will be a new dual listing venue aimed to expand services across the state and grow investment opportunities to U.S. investors.
“Texas is the financial services capital of America,” said Governor Abbott. “With another financial exchange coming to Texas, Nasdaq Texas cements our state as a global economic leader and will help further grow our leading financial industry. I thank Nasdaq for choosing Texas for their expansion and look forward to working together to keep Texas the financial hub of the nation.”
In March, Governor Abbott joined Nasdaq at a luncheon announcing their new regional headquarters in Dallas.
Nasdaq Texas is expected to become operational in 2026, pending regulatory approvals.
Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller stated, “With the launch of Nasdaq Texas, we’re sending a loud and clear message to the world: the future of finance, innovation, and economic growth runs straight through the Lone Star State. Governor Abbott’s leadership continues to make Texas the undisputed national champion for job creation, business investment, and economic freedom.
Nasdaq chose Texas because we do things differently here. We don’t strangle opportunity with red tape and runaway taxes; we open the door and get to work. That’s why our economy ranks eighth in the world, and its growth continues to outpace the rest of the nation.
This new presence from Nasdaq will spur investment, attract talent, and broaden the Texas footprint in global markets, including the agriculture sector that feeds and fuels this country. When major financial institutions bet on Texas, it drives investment in our farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and rural communities.”
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The University of Texas at Arlington published the following Q&A’s “to explain what this means for businesses, investors and the Texas economy,” with insights shared by Sriram Villupuram, associate professor of finance, shares his insight.
What exactly is the Texas Stock Exchange, and how does it differ from the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq?
Villupuram: The Texas Stock Exchange is a national securities exchange like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq, and will compete with those exchanges. Both the NYSE and the Nasdaq have stringent listing requirements for prospective companies to list on their exchanges. In contrast, the Texas Stock Exchange is expected to facilitate the listing of relatively smaller companies.
Why is Texas launching its own exchange now?
Villupuram: Texas has always been viewed as business-friendly, and it is expected to experience strong economic growth over the next several years. The growth is expected to bring new businesses, potentially evolving to become publicly traded companies. Any new or existing business would need capital to grow. Having a stock exchange in Texas can serve as a powerful indicator of capital availability and of Texas’s aspiration to be a financial hub.
How will TXSE operate once it launches?
Villupuram: The Texas Stock Exchange is expected to operate as an electronic marketplace similar to Nasdaq, where a computer system matches bids from buyers and asking prices from sellers to facilitate transactions.
What will determine whether TXSE succeeds or fails?
Villupuram: A stock exchange is a marketplace that thrives on transaction volume. Having said that, the exchange will have to attract a sufficient number of companies to list and attract trading volume in their stocks. The minimum number of listed companies that make an exchange successful primarily depends on their capital structure.
How could TXSE affect Texas’ economy and job market?
Villupuram: New ideas tend to be incubated geographically closer to their sources of capital. The exchange could make Texas a hub for investor capital to incubate new ideas and further help maintain the strong economic growth we have witnessed over the years. With the expected growth, Texans would have access to more jobs and other economic opportunities.
Read more at uta.edu