(Bloomberg) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the upstart Texas Stock Exchange will help transform Dallas into the nation’s largest financial center and boost access to capital for businesses.
“Dallas, Texas, is already a huge financial center, but putting a stock exchange there would really make it the financial center of the entire country,” Abbott said in an interview Tuesday. “It will completely change Dallas.”
Abbott, a Republican, said he is working to change perceptions of the U.S. financial landscape outside of New York, noting that Texas now has more people working in financial services than the Empire State. He said the robust expansion of data centers in Texas over the past few years will facilitate rapid trading speeds once the exchange is up and running.
Mr. Abbott spoke a day after meeting with officials from the new stock exchange, which announced hires from Charles Schwab & Co., Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, to shore up its management team ahead of plans to begin operations next year. With support from BlackRock Inc., Citadel Securities and other investors, the Texas Stock Exchange has raised $135 million and plans to file registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming months, it said. Chief Executive Officer James Lee said on Monday.
The Texas governor said he has talked with Elon Musk about the possibility of listing companies he closely owns on the exchange and has received a positive response.
“I think this is just kind of his niche,” Abbott said. “This is exactly in line with the way Elon Musk does business.”
Musk’s parent companies, which include SpaceX, Neuralink and X, did not immediately return emails seeking comment.
Mr Lee said on Monday that companies listed on the exchange would no longer have to meet environmental, social and governance standards, in line with his pledge to reduce burdensome regulations for businesses. Mr. Abbott and the Texas Republican have been at the forefront of efforts by lawmakers to crack down on so-called ESG investing practices, which consider non-financial factors such as environmental risks.
–With assistance from Madlin Mekelburg.
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