Ed-yes, I just got this in with GREAT URL links from the Stockgroupfree Newsletter! RE:
EXTRA! EXTRA! (Today's Feature Headlines)
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CANADIAN EXCHANGES AGREE TO TAKE REVOLUTIONARY STEP FORWARD - VSE, ASE and
CDN Will Merge as Part of Deal
By John Dawe
Canada's four major stock exchanges announced today they have agreed on an
initiative that restructures their operations based on functional business
areas. This agreement is historic because it will see each Exchange
sacrifice one, or more, of its traditional areas of business in return for
the creation of a rationalized national trading infrastructure.
Under the agreement, the Montreal Exchange (ME) will relinquish the right
to trade senior equity listings and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) will
become the country's sole large cap market. In return, the ME will receive
the exclusive right to post trading in derivative instruments such as
options and futures. All derivatives currently trading on the Toronto
Futures Exchange (TFE) subsidiary of the TSE will also be transferred to
the ME.
The Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE), Alberta Stock Exchange (ASE) and the
Canadian Dealers Network (CDN) subsidiary of the TSE will become a merged
entity serving small cap issuers in all regions across Canada. The VSE's
news release also noted that "An invitation will be extended to the
Winnipeg Stock Exchange to participate in the national junior equities
market." As of yet, there has been no official word as to what the new
Exchange will be called, but some sources suggest "The Canadian Venture
Exchange" is currently under consideration.
The driving force behind the movement to restructure appears to have come
from the brokerage firms who are the member owners of the Exchanges. The
dominant core of these firms are bank owned brokerages which operate as
national entities. These firms are cost driven and understand margins in
their traditional brokerage operations will continue to be squeezed by
on-line trading and discount brokerage alternatives. As such, they see
little value in maintaining regionalized Exchange operations which compete
with each other and needlessly duplicate expenses. At this point the
rationalization of operations based on the specialized skills of each
Exchange is a logical necessity
Additionally, industry professionals have become increasingly critical of
the uneven playing field which has been created for small cap issuers by
differences in Provincial Securities regulations and the rules that apply
on the various Exchanges. The existence of competing regional Exchanges and
Provincial Securities administrative bodies has meant Canada has not been
able to develop a uniform set of listings criteria for small cap equities
on all Canadian Exchanges. This has led some listings to be approved on the
ASE and the TSE which would not have passed the relatively tighter rules
established in recent years by the VSE. Bre-X is one example of how this
system has produced sub-optimal results and a major benefit of the
amalgamation of the junior Canadian Exchanges could be the creation of a
uniform set of national compliance standards.
The one major question which remains is whether the restructuring plan for
the Exchanges will be robust enough to answer competition which will
continue to grow from Internet trading alternatives. To a certain degree
these moves by the Exchanges do appear defensive and may be an inadequate
reaction to market changes that are moving forward at a staggering pace.
However, there is a strong degree of logic to the initiatives and overall
they may prove beneficial for the Canadian investment community over the
course of time. Certainly with respect to the small cap market
amalgamation, the change is long overdue.
To access reports relating to this story you may wish to try the following
hyperlinks:
newsworld.cbc.ca
k990315
globeandmail.com
nationalpost.com
vse.ca
You can read this great story and more at stockgroup.com
Chuca
P.S.- Almost all the ASE one I have purchased have a BB 5 letter symbol, BUT the markets are DIFFERENT even if they tell you they are the same-IF ONE PUTS IN LIMIT ORDERS...market orders ( bad move sometimes ....)( I said SOMETIMES) are gotten in both because a MM is a Market Maker- if you read that in total perspective!
P.P.S.- See ASE Correct Price and see the 2 month old BB F for foreign adjusted to USD ($ US of A) way back like 2 months ago: BOTH are on this portiflio:
techstocks.com |
