Texas-based Abbott promotes Dallas Finance Hub as new exchange hires

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the upstart Texas Stock Exchange will help make Dallas the nation’s leading financial center and boost business access to capital.

“Dallas, Texas, is already a huge financial center, but when you put a stock exchange there, that’s really going to make it the financial hub of the whole country,” Abbott said in an interview. “It’s going to completely transform Dallas.”

Abbott, a Republican, said he is working to change perceptions of the American financial landscape outside of New York, noting that Texas now has more financial services employees than the Empire State. He said the robust expansion of data centers in recent years in Texas will help facilitate fast transaction speeds once the exchange is operational.

Abbott spoke a day after meeting with officials from the new exchange, who announced hires from Charles Schwab Corp., Nasdaq Inc. and the New York Stock Exchange to form its management team ahead of plans to begin operations next year. Backed by BlackRock Inc., Citadel Securities and other investors, the Texas Stock Exchange has raised $135 million and plans to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few months, Chief Executive James Lee said Monday.

The Texas governor said he has spoken to Elon Musk about the possibility of listing his close companies on the stock exchange and received a positive reception.

“I think it’s the kind of thing that’s really up his alley,” Abbott said. “This really fits the way Elon Musk does business.”

Musk, whose closely held companies include SpaceX, Neuralink and X, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Listed companies will not have to meet any environmental, social and governance thresholds, in line with a pledge to reduce burdensome regulations for business, Lee said on Monday. Abbott and the Texas Republican Party have been at the forefront of lawmakers’ efforts to restrict so-called ESG investment practices that consider non-financial factors such as environmental risks.

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