(November 20 – 16:50 ET) – In her address to the Canadian Club in Toronto today, Barbara Stymiest, President and CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange, said the TSE faces the same competitive forces faced by other stock exchanges — competition from other exchanges and alternative trading systems.

Stymiest told the audience that the TSE has long operated next to the largest capital market in the world. But she took some pride in noting that over a 10-year period the interlisting of Canadian stocks on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq is virtually unchanged.

“We have, in other words, experience in successfully dealing with interlisted stocks — a challenge that other exchanges around the world are only now beginning to see,” Stymiest said.

Stymiest also said the TSE is prepared for the arrival of Nasdaq Canada. The tech-heavy exchange will make an announcement about Phase I of Nasdaq Canada tomorrow morning in Montreal.

Stymiest observed that increased competition is also creating the need for greater co-operation among exchanges, and briefly touched on the TSE’s efforts with the NYSE to and six other exchanges to create the Global Equity Market. She said the latest round of meetings was held in Europe just last week and discussions are continuing.

“We will also continue to work closely with our colleagues, regulators and competitors to ensure that alternative trading systems and new entities like Nasdaq Canada are integrated into the Canadian landscape. Most importantly, we want to ensure that we are all on a level playing field in this new ballpark we’re all creating,” Stymiest added.