Silicon Valley Firm Floats Listings Plan for Long Term Growth Companies

Stock exchange operator IEX Group has asked U.S. regulators to approve a new corporate listings program that would hold listed companies to stricter standards of corporate governance designed to put long-term growth ahead of short-term profits. According to a story in Reuters news, IEX filed the request in the name of the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a Silicon Valley-based startup that plans to one day launch its own exchange. The LTSE listings rules concern things like executive compensation, disclosure, shareholder voting and board, and stakeholder policies. IEX filed rules with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that would allow the LTSE to launch its new listings program on IEX's Investors' Exchange. LTSE’s listings program would bind companies that sign on to stricter standards, Eric Ries, LTSE’s Chief Executive Officer said. The LTSE listings program is optional and separate from IEX’s own corporate listings program. Companies could be dually listed on another exchange, such as on Nasdaq Inc or New York Stock Exchange, but they must abide by the stricter rules or LTSE could delist them. Once its listings program is up and running, LTSE plans to apply to start its own stock exchange, Ries said.