The Toronto Stock Exchange’s parent company has already completed a major deal this year: its acquisition of ETF education company VettaFi.

According to TMX Group CEO John McKenzie, the deal helps expand its exchange-traded fund business globally.

“The exchange-traded fund is essentially one of the most important innovations in investing in the marketplace history — at least in the last 20 [to] 30 years,” McKenzie told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “What we were really looking to do is … get deeper into providing more support to our clients.”

Even though ETF activity has cooled off from its 2022 records, action in 2023 was still above previous years, according to iShares data.

McKenzie plans to utilize the VettaFi acquisition to facilitate more ETF creation.

“ETF providers can create new products and great solutions so that they can reach a broader investing audience,” McKenzie said. “That’s the one two punch of what we’re doing with that investment.”

TMX’s ETF Screener lists 1,264 ETFs and ETF-related funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of Friday.

With VettaFi in the exchange’s tool belt, McKenzie hopes to create new ETFs focusing on Canada’s economic strengths and how they can reach international investors.

“We want to be more global than local,” added McKenzie. “This is a great asset to help us build not just in the U.S., not just in Canada, but around the world.”

Since the acquisition was completed on Jan. 2, TMX shares are up 11%.

Disclaimer

Volkswagen recalled 246,000 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because of a wiring issue that could cause problems with the airbags, windows and brakes of the cars.

Damage to the wiring of the cars could result in airbags deploying “later than designed,” which could lead to injury of people in the vehicle, according to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The wiring issue could also cause other problems in the cars, including the vehicle’s windows rolling down on their own and its electronic parking brake inadvertently engaging at low speeds.

Currently, the company does not have a fix for the issue, according to the report, however Volkswagen will offer a reimbursement program for recalled vehicles.

The recall includes the 2019 through 2023 Volkswagen Atlas, as well as the 2020 through 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport.

Volkswagen will notify owners and dealers by mail on May 10, 2022, if their vehicles are included in the recall. The company will also reach out again when a fix is developed so owners can bring in their SUVs for repair.

In the meantime, owners can check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website to see if their cars are included in the recall by searching their vehicle identification number, or VIN.