Recently-launched Canadian equities exchange Aequitas has launched an official complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada, requesting an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices of TMX group.
The Canadian stock exchange operator has alleged that TMX is holding a monopoly over the market to retain control over the pricing of market data in the Canadian capital markets.
It is also alleged that the prohibitive cost of data is negatively impacting Canadian investors and creating negative perceptions about liquidity and transparency.
“In the area of market data, we believe the TMX has remained, in effect, an unfettered monopoly, leveraging its market power to charge prohibitive and monopolistic prices,” stated Jos Schmitt, President and CEO of Aequitas.
“Excessive market data fees have left Canadian investment dealers with no choice but to restrict the market data access given to their investment advisors and to their retail clients.”