The TSX Group Inc.’s recently announced strategic alliances are hallmarks of the group’s new strategy, CEO Richard Nesbitt said in a speech to the Institute of Corporate Directors in Vancouver on Tuesday.

“What you are seeing here, broadly, are the latest steps in our transformation from a stock exchange dealing in equity securities to an exchange group dealing in multiple asset classes,” said Nesbitt, referring to the new strategic alliance with the International Securities Exchange to form DEX, a new derivatives marketplace to be launched in 2009, and a second alliance relating to physical clearing and technology for North American natural gas and Canadian power markets between the InterContinental Exchange and Natural Gas Exchange.

Nesbitt also highlighted the cross-border shift in securities regulation and the continued global momentum behind free trade in securities.

“The possibility of free trade in securities will have to alter the way we look at the governance issue, so that we see it not just as a provincial or national issue but a cross-border issue.”

Nesbitt spoke on the evolution of foreign markets and its impact on attitudes toward regulation. “On a global basis, market participants are showing an increasing interest in the rapidly evolving issue of cross-border regulation and free trade in securities.”