Rick Perry joins Texas Stock Exchange leadership
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The new Texas Stock Exchange plans to start trading in late 2025 from Dallas, with a leadership team that includes former Gov. Rick Perry.
Why it matters: Gov. Greg Abbott hopes TXSE — pronounced "Tex-see" — will draw more companies to Texas and boost the state's already strong economy. There is also hope that it will elevate Dallas as an economic hub.
- "With those first trades and listings, Dallas will become a new hub for capital markets in the United States," TXSE chairman James Lee said at a news conference in Austin on Monday.
The big picture: Perry, former Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher, a past commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and former Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange executives are on the stock exchange's newly announced leadership team.
- Yes, but: The team consists mostly of white men, with only one woman and one Black man.
Flashback: TXSE was unveiled in June as a more "CEO-friendly" stock exchange.
State of play: TXSE has raised over $135 million so far and will be the most well-funded securities exchange to apply with the SEC, Lee said Monday.
- The Dallas region's many data centers will give the city the capacity to house the fully electronic national securities exchange.
- TXSE leaders have also talked to dozens of public companies to understand their needs and devise a suitable stock exchange experience, Lee said.
Reality check: There might be little upside for companies to switch stock exchanges and have to justify the move to their investors. Business has mostly been concentrated in the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.
Zoom in: North Texas has become a major financial hub as companies like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo expand their footprint in the region.
The intrigue: Perry has maintained a relatively low profile in recent years, after the longest governorship in state history, two presidential campaigns and a stint as energy secretary.
- In 2023, he was living a quieter life with his wife and his college best friends on 50 acres in Central Texas.
- But he appears to be back in state politics, taking up a new role as House Speaker Dade Phelan's senior adviser. He joined Abbott and Lee at Monday's news conference.
What's next: TXSE plans to register with the SEC in the coming months.
- If approved, the stock exchange would execute its first trades at the end of 2025 and launch listings in 2026.