The Politics of Financial Services Liberalization: The Case of the Canadian Investment Dealer Industry |
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| Authors: | Stephen L. Harris |
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| Affiliation: | Stephen L. Harris works with thc Financial Affairs Division of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developmcnt, in Paris. Thc views cxpressed in this paper arc strictly thosc of the author and they do not reprcscnt the views of the OECD nor those of its membcrs. Earlier versions of this paper werc presented to the 1996 Annual Meetings of the Canadian Political Science Association and the American Political Science Association, respectively. The author is grateful to William Coleman, and to the editors and the anonymous referees of this journal, for their constructive comments. |
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| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to explain the factors and processes which, in 1986–87, gave rise to the decisions by the Canadian federal and provincial (Ontario and Quebec) regulatory authorities to liberalize entry into, and ownership of, the investment dealer industry in Canada. These decisions, rather narrowly based as they were, nonetheless would be a watershed with respect to the subsequent deregulation of the traditional four-pillar structure of the Canadian financial services industry. The traditional four pillars-which were legally and functionally separated-comprised the chartered banks, the trust and mortgage loan companies, the life insurance industry, and the investment dealers. lhe liberalization decisions by the governments permitted the other elements of the four pillars, and nonresidents as well, to have equity participations in member firms of the securities industry. This represented a fundamental reversal of the beliefs, values, and ideas surrounding the low-pillars doctrine. The period of history examined extends from 1969 to 1987. |
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