Though older stock exchange institutions like Nasdaq do their best to keep up with the times, the sheer volume of outdated processes and tech that has accumulated over the years can occasionally bog things down. Nine major financial institutions have taken it upon themselves to craft a new stock exchange backed by the latest technology.
Members Exchange, or “MEMX” for short, is a joint effort of several high-profile Wall Street institutions, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments, and Morgan Stanley, to name a few. This impromptu coalition wants to create a new exchange from scratch to better integrate with the technological and social changes afforded by modern society. The new exchange, according to Business Insider, is intended to increase competition between exchanges, increase the transparency in general operations, reduce fixed costs associated with the process, and overall, make stock trading a simpler process.
With the amount of financial savvy and muscle behind this project, MEMX has the potential to become a power player in the stock trading industry right off the bat. If nothing else, the willingness of these companies to band together and create their own trading platform shows that they are becoming fed up with Wall Street’s current standards of operation.
MEMX will be filing an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to be recognized as a national securities exchange.
