TMX Group: History, Holdings, and Services

What Is the TMX Group?

TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto, ON, Canada. The company is an integrated, multi-asset class exchange group whose subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets and clearinghouses for equities, fixed income, and energy. TMX Group provides services and data products to the international financial community. TMX Group trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as TSE: X.

History of the TMX Group

TMX Group originated from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), founded in 1861 that initially listed 18 stocks. By the end of the 1990s, TSX was the national exchange for senior equities. Its counterpart in Quebec, the Montreal Exchange (MX), handled trading in derivatives. Other exchanges in Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg merged to form the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX), which traded junior equities.

TSX was registered as a for-profit enterprise in 1999, making it eligible to be a publicly traded stock. In the early 2000s, TSX assumed ownership of the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX) and renamed it the TSX Venture Exchange. TSX officially changed its name to the TMX Group in June 2008.

TMX acquired Trayport, a London-based energy-trading platform, from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in 2017. This allowed TMX to access global utility, energy, and derivatives markets and satisfied the British government’s interests in a diversified marketplace for trading software.

In 2021, TMX Group acquired AST Investor Services Inc. and its subsidiary AST Trust Company in Canada, a provider of transfer agency, corporate trust, and related services to Canadian public and private companies.

In January 2024, TMX acquired the remaining 78% of VettaFi Holdings, an indexing, digital distribution, analytics, and thought leadership company.

TMX Group Holdings and Services

In recent years, TMX has diversified its holdings and offered services outside of the traditional functions of a stock exchange.

• Toronto Stock Exchange
• TSX Venture Exchange
• Montreal Exchange
• TSX Alpha Exchange
• Trayport
• Shorcan
• TMX Datalinx
• Canadian Depository for Securities (CDS)
• TSX Trust
• Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC)

Mission and Vision

TMX states that its mission is to provide clients with technology-driven solutions through its various products. It builds markets for companies to raise capital and for traders and investors to profit.

The company is also heavily involved in environmental, social, and governance (ESG). In 2022 (latest information), the group launched the voluntary climate marketplace, donated C$1.4 million to charitable organizations, contributed C$85,000 to indigenous organizations and communities, required two impact days for employees, and implemented 2x matching in donations from employees for Ukraine relief.

The group also fulfills ESG initiatives with the companies it chooses to list. In 2022, 21% of all new ETF listings were ESG or sustainability-focused, 84 ESG or sustainability-focused ETFs were listed in 2022, compared with 44 in 2020, and C$12.3 billion in equity capital has been raised since 2018 in relation to clean technology and renewable energy.

Low-carbon mineral issuers are also a focus for TMX, with the group listing 190 companies that produce metals or minerals for a low-carbon economy and 640 issuers contributing at least one metal or mineral on the exchanges.

The Bottom Line

TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto, ON, Canada, and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as TSE: X. The company is an exchange group whose subsidiaries operate cash, derivative markets, clearinghouses, and data products to the international financial community.