CSE Evolves as Member Companies Grow

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has had a keen awareness of issuer needs since its inception 20 years ago, when a group of experienced stock exchange professionals and members of the trading community got together to provide exchange services for growing Canadian companies.

“We were a start up,” CEO Richard Carleton recalls. “That put us in a good position to understand the challenges that entrepreneurs face as they raise public capital for their growing businesses. We were in the same boat not so long ago.” That same understanding is behind several initiatives to help member companies continue to grow.

The CSE’s founding mandate is to provide a better path to public capital markets for early-stage companies. The CSE has consistently delivered by providing an attractive alternative for start-ups looking to raise capital by focusing on value and service for issuers and investors alike.

“As a new exchange, the CSE had the opportunity to see what worked and what didn’t, with the belief that we could offer something that the other exchanges couldn’t,” Anna Serin, Director of Listings Development said. “The CSE sees itself as a partner in a process. Often that means helping issuers secure advisory resources and identifying opportunities for the issuers to engage with the broader market.”

Today the exchange is home to a diverse set of companies. Many of the more recent issuers come from the dynamic and growing mining sector; issuers that are looking to facilitate the energy transition from fossil fuels to electricity. There are several new companies from the Technology and Life Sciences space, and the exchange has been critically important in the development of the legal cannabis industry in Canada, the United States and abroad.

The CSE continues to grow with close to 800 listed companies, a milestone that solidifies its place as one of the fasted growing exchanges in the world. “That’s a powerful validation of the approach that we’ve taken,” Carleton declared. “It’s also an important turning point. As the exchange has grown, many of our issuers have succeeded alongside.”

To accommodate the needs of its more developed issuers, the CSE has established a “senior tier”. These rules provide a level playing field with the rule framework for exchanges listing “non-venture issuers” in Canada. The senior tier also provides the CSE with the opportunity to list Exchange Traded Funds and related products, as well as Special Purpose Acquisition Corporations.

As all of this is comes to fruition, it became apparent that the exchange needed to update how it presented itself to the marketplace. “We aren’t the new kid on the block anymore,” Serin observed. “We want to represent who we are today.” Carleton added, “We are looking for a fresh brand. One that projects a more modern, powerful image, not just to the Canadian market, but to the global investment community that we serve. We want it to speak to the engagement that we've had with the marketplace and the success we’ve experienced.”

That sentiment is summarized through the CSE’s new tag line “Always Invested”. It’s a promise to all CSE constituents, whether they are issuers, investors, or the trading community, that the CSE continues to work diligently to improve their experience with the exchange. “It’s a promise that’s hard coded into the organization’s DNA,” Carleton said. “It’s a reminder that we are constantly thinking about ways to improve our customer service levels.”

As the evolution of the CSE continues, the goal of becoming a world-class exchange comes more sharply into focus. It’s an evolution that member companies and investors are anxious to experience.

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