The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Members
Exchange (MEMX), a market operator founded by members to benefit all
investors, to operate a national securities exchange.
The company, whose application was published by the SEC on Oct. 31,
2019, expects to go live in the third quarter of this year. Platform
testing and member certification will begin later this quarter.
Jonathan Kellner, CEO of Members Exchange, said: “We are excited to
earn SEC approval in this challenging environment and appreciate the
Commission’s thoughtful and timely review of our application. This
achievement is the result of our team’s great diligence and represents
a major step towards launching an exchange designed for all
investors.”
The Members Exchange investor board added: “We congratulate the
company on this important milestone and remain unified in our belief
that MEMX is the right idea at the right time. We look forward to
working with the company as they bring further innovation and reduced
costs to the U.S. equities market.”
MEMX aims to drive simplicity, efficiency, and competition in equity
markets. The operator is backed by top named in the trading industry,
including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Charles Swab, Citadel
Securities, E*Trade, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P.
Morgan, Jane Street, TD Ameritrade, UBS, and Virtu Financial. These
firms are some of the largest U.S. online retail broker-dealers, which
serve retail investors placing millions of orders each day, as well as
financial services firms, which service retail and institutional
investors, and market makers which collectively provide more than $700
million in price improvement annually to retail investors.
The firm differentiates itself by offering a simpler platform and
features that will benefit both retail and institutional investors,
including:
• A limited number of order types to promote simple and transparent interactions
• Investments in the best and latest technology to deliver fast and
efficient execution
• Lower pricing on market data, connectivity, and transaction fees
As the only member-owned equities trading platform, MEMX will
represent the interests of its founders and their collective client
base, comprised of retail and institutional investors, on U.S. market
structure issues.
The market operator has recently closed a strategic round of funding
led by J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and Jane Street
Capital, LLC., as it plans to launch the exchange on July 24, 2020.
MEMX has already started to onboard trading members in order to
prepare them for the launch, allowing them time to connect, test, and
certify as well as to ensure diverse liquidity on day one of trading.
MEMX aims to increase transparency, reduce fees, and focus on
technological innovation in the equity markets.