Aequitas NEO Exchange unveils its new listings platform
Aequitas NEO Exchange has launched its listings platform for capital raising companies and investment products and is ready to accept applications for companies and issuers of investment products interesting in listing on an exchange.Aequitas, which takes its name from the Latin word for equity and fairness, is Canada&rsquo;s newest exchange.&nbsp;Backed by some of Canada&rsquo;s largest pension and investment firms, it&nbsp;officially started trading in March&nbsp;and aims redefine the role of the stock exchange, bring fairness back to trading and to deter predatory high-frequency trading.
Canada’s newest stock exchange officially kicked off trading on Friday with a celebration held at the historic site that formerly housed the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The Aequitas NEO Exchange aims to deter predatory high-frequency trading that harms ordinary investors. Its backers include some of Canada’s largest pension funds and investment firms.

“This is a historic occasion in a historic location,” said Michael Wilson, a former federal finance minister and a member of the board of Aequitas Innovations Inc., the parent company of the new exchange.

“This building was at one stage the heart of the capital markets in Canada,” Wilson said, telling the business crowd at the Toronto Design Exchange that they were on a floor once filled with “the hustle and bustle of traders and runners going back and forth.”

The Bay St. site, best-known for its art deco façade, is now a non-profit, home to Canada’s only museum dedicated to design.

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Aequitas, named for the Latin word for equity and fairness, will be a rival to the Toronto Stock Exchange and other markets owned by the TMX Group.

The Toronto Stock Exchange is Canada’s premier stock market. It moved into the nearby Exchange Tower in 1983 and shifted to electronic trading in 1997.

At precisely 9:30 a.m., trading started with flashes of green and red on the NEO ticker board as stock prices moved up and down. The crowd applauded.

“We are on a journey to redefine the role of the stock exchange,” said Jos Schmitt, president and chief executive officer of the exchange. “The new exchange is there to level the playing field, and to bring fairness back into trading. Investors big and small, young and old, you have a fair change to participate.”

Schmitt kept his cool when a technical glitch prevented an informational video from playing prior to the start of trading. “I promise you the exchange has been tested for about six months before we launched it,” he said as the crowd laughed.

Trading on Aequitas NEO launched with 45 TSX-listed stocks including BCE Inc., Franco-Nevada Group, and Goldcorp. It will ramp up with more securities in the coming months, and unveil its own listing service later this year.

Nearly 6.1 million securities worth approximately $106.3 million traded on Aequitas NEO on Friday.

Backers, which include Royal Bank, Barclays Corp. and OMERS Capital Markets, hope that the new exchange could capture 15 to 20 per cent of the trading market in a couple of years.

“Ultimately, it’s about being innovative, and ensuring greater competition to keep prices even lower and that bodes well for investors and for consumers who rely on the stock markets,” Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said told reporters.

“The average person in Canada now has more choice. This is also showing the world markets the innovations that Toronto is making.”

With files from The Canadian Press

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