There will be a new kid on the block among U.S. stock exchanges. It was announced on Monday that a group of nine leading retail broker-dealers, banks, financial services firms, and global market makers have agreed to launch an equities exchange, MEMX, or Members Exchange.
MEMX will file an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission in early 2019 for approval to operate as a national securities exchange.
The new exchange will be owned entirely by its founding members and “will seek to deliver benefits to retail and institutional investors by introducing greater competition to the marketplace,” a statement announcing the venture says. MEMX's stated mission is “to increase competition, improve operational transparency, further reduce fixed costs, and simplify the execution of equity trading in the U.S.”
“In addition, MEMX will represent the interests of its founders’ collective client base, comprised of retail and institutional investors on U.S. market structure issues,” the announcement adds. “[It] will seek to offer a simple trading model with basic order types, the latest technology, and a simple, low-cost fee structure.”
Among the founding members of MEMX are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, E*TRADE, Fidelity Investments, Morgan Stanley, TD Ameritrade, UBS, and Virtu Financial.
No comments yet