The Texas Stock Exchange just landed its first major bank. Texas Capital Bancshares began trading on the Texas Stock Exchange at the open Thursday, after moving its primary listing out of Nasdaq, according to the company’s Oct. 8 announcement.
The move covers two securities. Texas Capital’s common stock and its 5.75% Series B preferred stock now trade under “TCBI” and “TCBI PRB.” In fact, both became primary listings on TXSE.
What changed for Texas Capital on the Texas exchange
This is a switch, not an add-on. Texas Capital is not running a dual listing. Instead, it left Nasdaq and made the Texas-based stock exchange its home, so the Dallas-based bank now answers to a Dallas-based market. For more on the bigger picture, see our look at why Texas is becoming America’s new financial hub.
The company first announced the plan on Sept. 14. Even before that, Texas Capital had moved its two Texas-focused ETFs, TXS and OILT, on Sept. 16. They became the exchange’s first primary listings and first ETFs, per the company. So the bank tested the waters with its funds, then brought over the main event.
Meanwhile, shareholders have nothing to do. Because of that, the company says stockholders need take no action. Texas Capital also remains a member of the Russell 2000 and the S&P MidCap 400, so the switch doesn’t change which indexes it belongs to.
The hometown pitch from the Lone Star exchange
Both sides leaned hard on the Lone Star theme. “As the only full-service financial services firm founded and headquartered in Texas, Texas Capital is proud to align with the only national securities exchange, built, headquartered and incorporated in the state we call home,” said CEO Rob C. Holmes.
Likewise, TXSE Chairman and CEO James H. Lee struck the same note in September. In fact, he called Texas Capital “the first home-grown, full-service financial services firm in the state of Texas.”
It is a tidy story: a Texas bank, on a Texas exchange, in Texas. Whether it moves the needle for investors, however, is a different question.
Why the first bank matters for investors
Here’s the thing. An exchange is only as good as the companies that list on it. TXSE began live trading July 10 with five securities. Its launch guide said corporate listings would start in October, and now it has a recognizable name on the board. Earlier, we covered how the exchange landed nearly $100 billion in first corporate listings.
TXSE bills itself as the first major new U.S. stock exchange in decades, a Dallas-based alternative to the NYSE and Nasdaq. Because of that, getting an established, index-member bank to make it a primary home is exactly the kind of proof a young exchange needs.
Still, don’t read too much into it yet. I could not find a confirmed list of other companies planning to follow. One bank is a start, not a stampede.
What to watch next on the Texas Stock Exchange
Mark Nov. 9 on the calendar. The company expects to change its tickers to “TXCP” and “TXCP PRB” that day. For now, the bank trades under its old symbols, so the new ones are still a month out.
The bigger question is who’s next. If more Texas companies follow Texas Capital, this becomes a real shift in where the state’s business gets priced. If they don’t, it stays a nice hometown headline.
