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Local stock exchanges once were common but faded as face-to-face trading shifted to electronic platforms and the biggest U.S. stock-exchange operators acquired smaller rivals. Among the few remaining exchanges, the former Philadelphia Stock Exchange is now an options exchange owned by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. A minicomeback might be around the corner. In April, Hawaii lawmakers agreed to begin examining the state's securities laws to possibly create a "locally focused, Hawaii-based stock exchange."

In Toronto, organizers of the Social Venture Exchange, or SVX, are expected to launch this summer a specialized exchange to link institutional investors with local companies having a social or environmental impact. The fledgling market is backed by Toronto Stock Exchange owner TMX Group Inc. Local exchanges are also in the works in Europe, Africa and Asia.

But other efforts at "loca-vesting," as the concept is known, have struggled. Investbx opened in 2007 in the U.K. city of Birmingham to serve small companies in the West Midlands region. Last month, the exchange was sold for a token £1 ($1.6352) after bringing just three companies to market and absorbing more than £3 million ($4.9 million) in public subsidies.