TSX Group Inc., the parent company of the Toronto Stock Exchange, is trying to increase its visibility outside Canada.

“We will be opportunistic in pursing potential acquisitions or investments in market places and related services outside of Canada in order to diversify our activities beyond Canadian securities,” TSX chief executive Barbara Stymiest told Scotia Capital’s financial services conference on Wednesday.

TSX has already made a push into the Canadian fixed income market, which is 14 times larger than the domestic equity market, through a 40% stake in bond trader CanDeal. It bought the stake last year.

Stymiest has also been working to boost the exchange’s share of trading on companies listed on both Canadian and U.S. exchanges, boasting that TSX now holds more than 60% of the value of such trading, up from 4% in 2000.

To boost this further, the exchange expects to start offering U.S.-dollar-denominated trading in the near future.

“Our… immediate focus will be on continuing to increase our share of North American trading in those interlisted stocks,” Stymiest said.

Stymiest has also been active on the regulation side, pushing a plan for a transatlantic mutual recognition of securities rules so that firms can list in their home markets but still be accessible to investors in other countries.

But if a larger investment doesn’t shape up, Stymiest has said she might put the money into raising the TSX’s quarterly dividend, now at 18¢ a share.

Stock in TSX Group has risen more than 75% since its shares hit the market in an IPO last November.