(Reuters) -TXSE Group, backed by BlackRock and Citadel Securities, plans to launch the Texas Stock Exchange based in Dallas, a spokesperson for Citadel Securities said on Tuesday.

The exchange, which has raised about $120 million, plans to file registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to operate as a national securities exchange later this year, the company said on Wednesday.

The stock exchange aims to attract listings of exchange-traded products and aims to challenge increasing compliance costs at the Nasdaq and the NYSE, and newer rules like the one setting targets for board diversity at the Nasdaq.

TXSE’s planned launch comes as changes in the equity markets provide an opportunity for greater alignment and more competition, it said.

(Reporting by Angela Christy and Disha Mishra; Additional reporting by Gursimran Kaur; Editing by Alan Barona, Varun H K and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)