The Boston Options Exchange (BOX) has received approval from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to become a US securities exchange. BOX Holdings Group will own and operate the options trading platform.
"We'll be able to file for our own products and contracts now and hopefully there will be some operating efficiencies from not having a vendor contract relationship," said chief executive officer at BOX Holdings Group, Tony McCormick. "We also won't be regulated by a competitor any longer."
As part of the move, TMX Group, the firm owning the Toronto Stock Exchange and 53.8% of BOX Holdings Group, will reduce its equity stake in the self-regulatory organisation to 40% and its voting share to 20%. There are also a number of brokers owning BOX Holdings and the majority stake will be held by Interactive Brokers (20%), while Citadel, Citigroup, UBS and Credit Suisse will each own between 3.99% and 4.2%.
BOX currently uses the exchange licence of Nasdaq OMX BX and has been seeking its own licence since 2008. Regulators were concerned with TMX Group's ownership of more than 40% of the exchange and this was considered the issue causing the delay of BOX's approval.