(The Center Square) – During Gov. Greg Abbott’s tenure, Texas has attracted more than 325 corporate headquarters, prompting him to regularly claim, “Texas is the headquarters of headquarters.”
Abbott just announced he’s running for his fourth term after Texans passed 10 ballot propositions to amend the state constitution to limit taxation. One of them prohibits the state legislature from ever imposing a securities transaction tax.
The prohibition was key to attracting more business to the state – including now three securities exchanges that will soon be operational in Texas for the first time in history.
The result: Texas now “has the largest financial services workforce in the United States, now surpassing New York,” the governor says.
In the last few months alone, the securities industry has made major strides in Texas.
On Wednesday, Nasdaq, Inc. launched its first ever financial exchange in Texas: Nasdaq Texas. This is after it announced in March its plans for a new regional headquarters in Dallas.
Nasdaq Texas will offer a new dual listing venue aimed to expand services statewide and grow investment opportunities to U.S investors. It’s expected to become operational next year, pending regulatory approvals.
“Texas is the financial services capital of America,” Abbott said in response. “With another financial exchange coming to Texas, Nasdaq Texas cements our state as a global economic leader and will help further grow our leading financial industry.”
The Nasdaq announcement came one month after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Texas Stock Exchange’s (TXSE) application to operate as a national securities exchange.
The TXSE, based in Dallas, is the only national securities exchange built and headquartered in Texas. Its goal is to “revitalize competition for issuers, establish the premier venue for listings, and create a world-class trading platform for all market participants.” The TXSE “will enable U.S. and global companies to access U.S. equity capital markets – providing a complete solution to list and trade public companies and the growing universe of exchange-traded products (ETPs),” it says.
It also will provide “access to exchange traded funds in a range of data services,” TXSE Group Inc. Founder and CEO James Lee said last October when he and Abbott announced the leadership of the newly formed TXSE.
“With Texas’ booming economy, pro-business policies, and growing population, the right time to establish a national securities exchange in Texas is now,” the TXSE says.
The TXSE SEC approval also came after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) launched operations in Texas for the first time in history.
In February, the NYSE, part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), announced its plan to launch NYSE Texas, a fully electronic equities exchange headquartered in Dallas. NYSE: ICE reincorporated NYSE Chicago in Texas and renamed it NYSE Texas.
After receiving regulatory approval, the NYSE Texas launched in Arlington on Aug. 20 and Abbott was there to ring its closing bell.
“Texas ranks No. 1 in so many different ways,” he said. “We are No. 1 for economic development, most new jobs added, and ranked No. 1 for the most business listed on the NYSE. It’s the hardworking men and women that work at these businesses every day that make Texas what it is. With Texas’ tremendous business success, we have NYSE coming here, growing here, and putting deeper roots in the state of Texas. This is the home of the economy, and it is going to be the home of financial exchanges going forward.”
Abbott was joined by multiple officials at the bell ringing including U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, NYSE Group President Lynn Martin, NYSE Texas President Bryan Daniel, Intercontinental Exchange Founder, chair, and CEO Jeff Sprecher and other NYSE group members and business leaders.
In addition to Abbott’s vision for Texas to have its own stock exchange and become the financial capital of the U.S., his other stated goal is for Texas to become the seventh largest economy in the world. (He’s excluding California in his ranking.)
In 2024, Texas’ gross domestic product (GDP) was more than $2.7 trillion, the second-largest state economy after California’s $4 trillion GDP. The top ten economies in the world by GDP in 2024 were the United States, China, Germany, California, Japan, India, United Kingdom, France, Texas and Italy.
With the new exchanges and ongoing business expansion and relocations occurring in Texas, Abbott argues this goal is also attainable.
