While Canada’s relative financial stability through the global economic crisis gave the country an advantage, TMX Group chief executive Thomas Kloet says that won’t carry on indefinitely.
“At some point, the American economy will recover, Europe will overcome its massive sovereign debt issues, and the developing economies of Latin America and Asia will rocket forward again,” he said in prepared notes.
“When that day comes, Canada must be ready.”
In a speech to the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Kloet said the competition to attract global investors to put money behind Canadian businesses is fierce.
But TMX Group (TSX:X), he said, will take aim at winning those investments despite being up against the “mega-exchanges of the United States, Europe and Asia.”
Kloet said there are tens of billions of dollars around the world that the stock exchange operator wants to help bring to Canada.
“Together with other stakeholders, we aim to help sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, resource-sector investors, market participants of all sizes and active traders from around the world see Canada as a logical investment and business destination,” he said.
Last year, the former Maple Group Acquisition Corp. acquired the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, along with the alternative Alpha exchange and the country’s largest clearing house CDS — controlling some 90% of trading in Canada.
It also owns the TSX Venture Exchange, Montreal Exchange and a number of specialized markets and other securities businesses.