The Exchange on the Move - May 9, 1983

TSE Floor Procedure Committee dressed for the parade from the old exchange at 2345 Bay Street to the new premises in the Exchange Tower in 1983.

In this picture: Bill Pirie, George Chisholm, Bob Beggs, Jim Duggan, Gary O'Connell, Harold Mayne, Jim Dempsey, Jim Taugher, Don Bainbridge, Tom Milligan, Bill Barry, Doug Mowatt

The Exchange on the Move - May 9, 1983

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In this picture: Bill Pirie, Gary O'Connell, Tom Milligan, Bob Beggs, Doug Mowatt,Jim Taugher, Al Hawkins, Tom Carley, Tim Barber, John Peirson, Frank Pike, Bob Govan

The Exchange on the Move - May 9, 1983

Two of the Exchange's oldest traders, Harry Abbey and Harold Dawson, conducted the first trade on the new floor - 100 shares of Bell Canada - signalling the official opening of the floor.


- Courtesy of Toronto magazine

Featuring Next Week...

Memories of the Exchange moving to its new quarters on May 9, 1983.

Any stories or pictures would be greatly appreciated. Please email Ken_Rathgeber@scotiacapital.com

Profile of FRED ROSE (the Policeman)

Fred was the most senior and powerful trading official ever employed by the TSE. He reigned supreme from 1966 to 1982. He was often referred to as the "Policeman".

He had absolute discretion. His word was law on the trading floor. His decisions were final, binding and non-appealable. The only officials that have such authority today are the umpires in baseball - you're right even when you're wrong.

Fred passed away peacefully on October 15, 2001 and is tremendously missed by everyone.

Memories of the TSE Floor

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In this picture: Jack Lauder, George Brymer, Roger McGhie, Bill Bigwood, Bill Crabtree, George Hankey, A. Sime, Jim Sayer, M. Koturbash, Hori Carter, George Adams, Vic May, Bill DaCosta

Photo by Turofsky, Alexandra Studio

TSE Traders Archive Surpasses 5000 Hits!

The TSE Traders Archive has surpassed 5000 hits since the beginning of August!

To all loyal readers, Ken will buy lunch for those who contribute material within the next week (just kidding). But we do require material so please send us your stuff!

Bay Street Maven

Here is a good shot of Don Bainbridge. Please let us know if you would like to contribute to the TSE Traders Archive by e-mailing us his profile.

Profile of PEARCE BUNTING (aka The President)

Pearce was (and still is) the longest serving President of the Toronto Stock Exchange. His legacy is that he is the "father of CATS - Computerized Assisted Trading System". In the mid- 1970's, a time when we still had spittoons on the trading floor and elevators had operators, Pearce was thinking of a computerized trading system. CATS went live in 1977 and the TSE had an enormous lead on the whole world. When the floor closed in 1997, the CATS system was used and still leading in technology - a strong indication of how good the system really was. The CATS engine was eventually replaced in 2001. This man was a true innovator.

October 19, 1987 - Black Monday

Pearce Bunting, President of the TSE in 1987, reflects on market events of 1987 in the TSE's annual report.

Roy Coon taking a break


What are your memories of that day? Post a COMMENT below.

Remember These?

Memories of the TSE Floor

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In this picture: Tony Torella, Len Andrews, Frank Collins, Homer Dunn, George Adams

Laugh of the Day

Profile of DON CLARKSON

Don began his 43 year career with what started as a summer job at Bongard & Co. in 1950. His first job was to chalk up stock prices on the board in the office which he got from the ticket tape, and every hour he picked up floor tickets from the TSE trading floor. When he was 21, he passed the traders test and became Bongard’s spare trader. Hugh Barker was head trader and Don’s job was to relieve the regular traders for lunch breaks and holidays, including Roy Pollard, Ken Cannon, & Mike Henry.

After 14 years, Don moved to J.B. White to trade with Peter Conacher and Jim Bagshaw, then to Burgess Graham where he became a Registered Trader with stocks on post 7. Some of the pro traders around that post at that time were Jack Hardy, Doug Mowatt, Hugh Nickle, and Cliff Jones. Don was one of the first R.T.’s to go into CATS for what was to be a one year experiment. Remember the CATS corner? Just before the trading floor at 234 Bay was closed for the move to the Exchange Tower, Don accepted a position with the TSE surveillance department and moved up to become a TSE Director until he took early retirement in 1993 (Randy Reynolds took over his stocks). Always involved in community service in his spare time, he was a governor of Sheridan College, and a governor of Oakville Hospital. After retiring, Don moved to Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay and took up sailing, Traditional Sailing. He has sailed, as a crew member, in a number of tall ships on voyages around the Great Lakes.

Life on Bay

Remember life on Bay?
It just seems like yesterday
The chalkdust in your hair
And the paper in the air
The heavy metal doors
And the scuffed up tile floors
Where everything was worn
Before most of us were born
But it had a certain feel
It was solid, it was real
You could work a post alone
On the move and on the phone
The digit counters click
As you'd add another tick
You could walk around the post
And not see a single MOST
Grab and stamp a ticket
Then stuff the tube and stick it
That's when work was fun
Cause it kept you on the run
And the food down in the caf
Was so bad you had to laugh
But the girls there were alright
Even though they looked a sight
And they served you pretty quick
And I never once got sick
From the peanut butter toast
That I snuck back to the post
Or the special of the day
What it was, I couldn't say
How about smoking by the stairs?
Twenty people, seven chairs
Or getting on the floor
By just walking through the door
The security was there
But for us they didn't care
No sirens and no hooters
No malfunctioning computers
You could check out your positions
And the odd lot/terms conditions
Without pushing through a hoard
You just looked up at the board
And if you felt you needed air
Well, the front door was right there
You could go out for a drink
Without raising a stink
The Corkroom down the street
Was the place for us to meet
It had an atmosphere
That you can't find around here
And the prices were OK
For my meagre Postie pay
Yeah, that bar belonged to us
With no pretense and no fuss
If you had a thirst to slake
You could go there on your break
I remember life on Bay
And I've got something to say
I didn't work there long
But I think leaving was wrong
I mean, sure, the place was old
But at least it wasn't cold
And now it's standing there
empty, dark and bare
A reminder of old days
And a different set of ways
The plaster's cracked and stained
The entrance locked and chained
No more crowding by the door
At lunch time and at four
Now all of that is gone
And the TSE goes on
But Bay Street was a friend
I was sad to see it end
But as I sit and reminisce
About this place I really miss
I realize that it can't fall
It lives within us, one and all

- Written by Peter Norville

Memories of the TSE Floor

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Click on picture to enlarge.


In this picture: Dave Turner

Profile of ROY HILL

As a young immigrant newly arrived from Ireland, I landed my first job as manager, Contracts Department, at Wood Gundy on May 8th, 1957. I soon moved into trading and as Gundy was then a bond house and didn’t have a stock exchange seat, we jitneyed our orders through Wills, Bickle.

I managed the equity trading dept. until 1977, at which time I switched to sales and established Gundy’s branch in Markham. During my tenure on trading I saw the Dow break the 1,000 level for the first time. I was trading at the time of President Kennedy’s assassination. I remember well the Kidd Creek discovery and many other exciting events. News and rumors traveled fast in those days and I’m not sure that modern technology has made the rumor mill any faster.

I joined A.E. Ames in 1978 in sales but was unaware they were already on a slippery slope. I was a lousy salesman anyway and I yearned to be back in a trading environment. I took a job with Bob Rose at Merit Investment and traded on the floor as well as CATS. I remained there until 1985 when I joined the TSE’s Market Surveillance working with Neil Winchester. In 1991, The OSC transferred COATS to the TSE and it was renamed Canadian Dealing Network. (“CDN”) Nobody wanted the job of managing CDN and as the saying goes, “fools rush in”. The over-the–counter market and CDN experienced exponential growth in the next nine years and it was like holding a tiger by the tail.

I retired in February 1999 after 42 years in the industry and if asked if I would do it again the answer is - “in a heartbeat”. I have lived through interesting times and worked with the greatest group of people. Retirement is good. I live in the London area now and keep active in various organizations. I enjoy playing banjo and guitar with my Dixieland and swing music groups as well as performing solo at banjo conventions throughout the USA.

Laugh of the Day

Click to enlarge

The Barbies

Also known as the External Communication department of the Exchange, 1985.

For left to right (bottom to top): Mary Revell, Jillian Clegg, Bettianne Henchey, Susan Hendrick, Roberta Wilton, Krys Jawlosewicz, Sharon Ofiara
Absent: Karlene Nation

Photographer Rudy von Tiedemann, at the request of the REVIEW magazine.

Camaraderie

Rick Craig & Jim Bagshaw
Ken Rathgeber & Fred Ketchen
Owen Ritchie, Bob Point, Barb Kovell









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The King of Bay Street

Here is a good article of Fred's 50th year on Bay Street:

The King of Bay Street
50 years and Fred Ketchen is still going strong

Sunday, September 16, 2007

BY LINDA LEATHERDALE, BUSINESS EDITOR, TORONTO SUN

In a Bay Street minute--Fred Ketchen has seen it all.
From meltdowns to mergers, to striking it rich, losing fortunes, and even suicide.

"I remember walking down Bay Street, seeing a commotion, and then a body lying on the sidewalk," Ketchen said. "Some poor broker jumped."

Working on Bay Street is not for the faint of heart.

But despite the stresses, there are many highs and Ketchen, 72, couldn't envision his life anywhere else.

In fact, if this stock market guru was to die, he wouldn't choose heaven or hell. He'd choose to come back and do it all over again. On Bay Street.

It was 50 years ago today, on Sept. 16, 1957, that a 22-year-old from Port Credit, with huge ambitions, joined brokerage firm McLeod Young Weir & Co. There he was, his adrenalin pumping, making trades on the floor of the old Toronto Stock Exchange building at 234 Bay Street, now the Design Exchange.

He knew the building well. His father, Mansell, was vice-president of administration at the TSE from 1927 to 1965. Back then, there was Saturday morning trading. Ketchen remembers tagging along with dad and waiting for him in the Member's Lounge.

"There were beautiful chesterfields, posh rugs and a big radio," Ketchen recalls. "And I thought, this is where I should be."

But Ketchen, who bought his first shares at age 14, didn't set out to be a broker. When he graduated from Port Credit High in 1954, he headed off to Ottawa to study journalism at Carleton. There were six children in the Ketchen household and money was tight. So, after a year he headed home and pounded the pavement for a job.

He landed one, as a young reporter for the Toronto bureau of the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones. Only problem was, the pay was miserable. "I made $27 a week, and was told if I did a good job, I'd get a raise after a year," he said. Ketchen was praised for his work, but it took six months to get a raise, and when he got, it was a disappointing $27.50 a week.

He quit.

McLeod Young Weir is where he would make his mark and money.

For five years, he was on the trading floor, where he'd proudly wear his McLeod tartan jacket. "It was a fascinating place to be," he said. It was sad day, when the trading floor -- which later moved to the Exchange Tower -- closed for good in the late 1990s, when electronic trading took over..

After five years, Ketchen moved to the trading desk at McLeod Young Weir, and he worked hard on building wealth for his clients. He even reached for the stars, when in a bold move, he solicited Elizabeth Taylor when she was visiting Toronto.

"I sent a letter to her hotel room telling her how I could make her money grow," he said. He never heard back.

Ketchen helped break a code of silence on Bay Street, which would drive business journalists on deadline mad, and which led to Ketchen becoming a media darling.

It was in the early 80s, interest rates were going skyrocketing, and Ron Adams of CBC Radio (now 680 News) wanted comments from Ketchen. So, off Ketchen trotted, into chairman's Austin Taylor's office and asked, "Well, can I?"

Taylor trusted Ketchen. And Ketchen was good at convincing that Bay Street needed to get out of the ivory towers and meet with Main Street.

In 1988, McLeod Young Weir was swallowed up by Scotiabank in a flurry of brokerage takeovers by the big banks. Ketchen was made a senior v-p of the newly-formed ScotiaMcLeod, as well as director of equity trading -- and his new playground was the trading floor on the 65th floor at Scotia Plaza.

In 1989, he was elected a governor of the TSE (now the TSX), then served as vice-chairman and chairman. Dad, who passed in the mid-1980s, would be proud.

Meanwhile, you couldn't turn on a radio or TV, without hearing from Ketchen..

None of this celebrity status, though, has gone to his head. Neath the starched shirts and impeccable suits, some made by Don Cherry's tailor, is a modest and charitable man.

I know. My daughter Skye can't thank him enough for his generous support of her fundraising efforts for cancer research. His charitable projects are many, but closest to his heart is the Trillium Health Centre, which saved his life. He had two heart attacks in 1991, then was back at the centre this past May. Another angioplasty and two more stents, and Ketchen feels like "a brand new man."

It's been 50 years of setting the alarm clock for 5 a.m., driving the QEW, arriving at his desk at 7 a.m., and working 12-hour days -- so will Ketchen ever slow down?

"One day I may retire, but not yet," he said.

Meanwhile, the legacy of Ketchen and stocks lives on, with his daughter Sherilyn, now on maternity leave, working with him at ScotiaMcLeod.

- Photo courtesy of Fred Ketchen, 1984
- Article courtesy of Linda Leatherdale at the Toronto Sun

Profile of SAM BIANCO

I started at the Toronto Futures Exchange in 1985 as an Independent Trader. Later I started doing jitney trades for Scotia Capital. In 1989, I interviewed with Dean Wells at Scotia and was hired for options and futures trading. Still here, only a little crazier, because I sit next to Fred Ketchen.

"Do I miss the floor? Every damn day."