History
of the
Financial Markets
Association of Canada
by
Ivan Roome
Note: This history of the Financial Markets Association of Canada, formerly known as the Forex Association of Canada, was provided to Rob Wittmann by Ivan Roome, a past president of the Association, in a letter written in early 1997.
SOME OF US IN CANADA attended International A.C.I. Congresses as early as 1964 in New York, but as we had no Forex Association of our own, it was necessary to have membership in a specific club and from then until 1973 Canadians were welcomed and accorded membership by the Forex Association of North America. The USA club had, in fact, changed its name from “Forex Club of America” to “Forex Association of North America” in order that it would better represent members from both the USA and Canada.
Having recently
reviewed my early A.C.I. Congress directories, it is interesting to note
that in the late 60s Canadians attending International Congresses had their
names listed under the country heading “Etats Unis.” It is also interesting
to note that for the annual Congress of 1972 in London, Canada was accorded
its own country listing. On that occasion we had nine delegates in attendance.
The United States had 58. In actual fact, London had “beat the Sun”
and granted us individual country status although our Association was not
officially recognized by A.C.I. until 1973 when Canada’s full membership
was welcomed and announced at the General Assembly of the 15th Annual Congress
in Lisbon. For the record, Canada had just six delegates attending that
Congress. It is easy to
reminisce and wonder why Canada was so tardy in establishing its own club,
especially since we had greater experience than most with a “floating”
currency. In spite of all the various innovations to adapt to improved technology,
our Canadian dollar market, as we know it, has, in fact, existed since 2nd
October 1950. It must be remembered that up until the Bank Act change of
1 December 1980, which officially authorized international banks to operate
in Canada, our foreign exchange market here had been managed and controlled
by a handful of bank officers (The Foreign Exchange Committee) and that
they had their own brokerage service (Canadian Bankers Association) to accommodate
their trading activities. It was through
“new blood” on the scene that really brought about the establishment
of Forex Canada. The “new blood” I refer to was John Christopherson.
John had commenced his foreign exchange trading career here in Toronto at
the Imperial Bank of Canada in 1957 and, shortly before the Cornmerce/Imperial
merger of 1 June 1961, had moved to New York to work for Continental Bank
International. He had remained in that bank’s employ (in both New York
and London) until 1972, when he was engaged by the Bank of Montreal to head
up their FX trading activity (in those days it was still based in Montreal).
In this capacity he became that bank’s member on The Canadian Foreign
Exchange Committee. It was then, through John’s suggestion and recommendation
to that Committee, that Canada instituted its own Forex Club. The first
exploratory meeting of our Association was held at the St. Stephen’s
Club in Montreal in late 1972 and it was given its early direction by John.
He was its first President and was succeeded by me [Ivan Roome] when John
resigned from the Bank of Montreal and returned to New York in 1974. Throughout the
early years the Association’s membership was restricted to the foreign
exchange and international money market dealers of the Canadian chartered
banks, together with members of the Canadian Bankers Association broking
staff. However, following a meeting on 26 January 1979, it was decided to
open our membership to foreign exchange and international money market dealers
of wholly owned subsidiaries of internatioal banks in Canada together with
employees of international broking companies operating in Canada. In 1976
membership stood at 53 (international) with 10 (local). By 1981 this mernbership
had increased to 175 (international) and 255 (local). Throughout the 80s
and 90s our Association has gone from strength to strength, having been
chosen by A.C.I. to host the following events: 