Letter From The President

Letter From The Out-Going President

8th Annual STA Congressional Conference

Fall Bash - September 30, 2004

IETA Golf Tournament - June 4, 2004

11th Annual Canadian Security Traders Conference - Kananaskis, Alberta - July 7-10, 2004

Nazareth House Charity Event - April 29, 2004

Market-on-Close: A Discussion of the new TSX Mechanism - May 26, 2004

Dates To Remember

Who's Where? This 'N That

A Warm Welcome to our New Members

Dictum Meum Pactum

“My word is my bond.” The motto of the STA couldn’t be truer. In today’s volatile markets, it represents what our industry is about.

Our AGM was held June 3, 2004 at the Park Hyatt hotel. We had a great turnout. I wanted to thank the Board members who have finished their term including Michelle DaCosta, Carrie Gratias, Charlotte Daughney, and Larry Conn. Staying on as Past-President is Nick Thadaney; the other Officers on ths year’s Board include Chris Rigby (Vice-President), Gary Knight(Treasurer), and Blair Norris(Director).

I would like to congratulate and welcome this year’s new Board members, Brent Mahoney (Secretary) GWLIM, Chris Soanes (Director) RBCIM, Geoff Keith (Director) Barclays G.I., and James Bolen (Director) CPPIM.

We are all looking forward to the upcoming year! One of our new initiatives this past year was the “Feed the Hungry” program, serving breakfast to the homeless of Toronto on Thursday mornings at the Osgoode Law Hall cafeteria. It has been a very rewarding experience. We would like to involve more members during the upcoming year. Anyone interested should contact myself or any other Board member.

Thanks,
Dan Dowling, President, IETA (of Toronto)
416-863-7511
dan_dowling@scotiacapital.com

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'Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.' - John F. Kennedy

On behalf of the IETA's membership, I would like to acknowledge the fine work of the 2003/2004 Board of Directors and commend them on the many milestones achieved. While their record of accomplishment stands for itself, it's probably worthwhile to highlight some of these successes.

Educational Content: We were able to hold two very timely and relevant forums which were both quite well attended
o Emerging Trends & Market Structure in North American Markets
o Market on Close

Charity ('Bay Street Feeds the Hungry'): With the help of Martin Teplitsky, we were able to join a program operated by a group of lawyers that serves warm meals to Toronto's homeless. We organized a few dates where some of our members volunteered their time to serve a hearty breakfast at the Osgoode Hall Cafeteria. All involved found this to be a truly enriching experience.

Social: After another successful social calendar, the excitement surrounding the change in seasons prompted us to introduce another event - The Spring Fling, which was very well received.

Website Revitalization: Through the help of John Wu, we implemented a new look/feel of our website. While there's still much to do, I'm sure it will only get better.

Annual Winter Vendor Fair: While not as lucrative as previous versions (likely because we were bumped from our venue by a Princess Diana exhibit), it was very well attended by the vendors.

I'd like to extend a special thanks to our outgoing board members:
Michelle Dacosta, Past-President: We spent much of the past year tapping Michelle's experience on a variety of issues, which was invaluable. Her 3 year term ends with an impressive record. Michelle continues to serve the interests of our members as Treasurer of the CSTA.
Carrie Gratias, Vice-President: Carrie was everywhere - she was involved in organizing, executing and planning virtually all of our activities, not to mention her activities on a number of committees. Carrie's fingerprints were all over the active IETA social calendar - a fact not lost on many of our very satisfied members.
Charlotte Daughney, Treasurer: Charlotte took on the task of treasurer (a job which nobody ever wants - good luck Gary) this past year. It demands a great deal of time and attention to detail - Charlotte kept us in good hands.
Larry Conn, Director: As a key member of our board, Larry was especially active with regard to the Social Committee. He played an instrumental role in the preparation of this year's Charity Bowling Tournament. Thank you all for your support and please join me in wishing the incoming Board much success in 2004/2005.

Regards,
Nicholas Thadaney, Past-President, IETA (of Toronto)
416-874-0737
nthadane@itgcan.com

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The Congressional conference had an impressive list of speakers, including, William Donaldson, Chairman of the SEC, and, Annette Nazareth, Head of Market Regulation, SEC. As well, several U.S. congressmen who sit on the House Financial Services and/or Senate Banking Committee presented their views on hot topics, such as Regulation NMS affecting market structure. Congress is continuing to examine market structure issues addressed by the proposed regulation.

Key issues include: 1) Uniform Trade-thru rule, with exceptions for opt-out on order-by order basis, and automated market can execute orders without regard to a better price in a non-automated market. 2) Market Access rule to allow non-discriminatory access to limit order books. 3) Eliminate sub-penny quotes. 4) Modify formula’s for the allocation of market data revenues.

Chairman Donaldson covered some key areas that will effect investors in Canada and the U.S. alike, specifically, hedge fund regulation. Of any part of our business, this is one area that the industry has seen phenomenal growth. Registering hedge fund advisors is going to be required in the near future. The small investors still need protection: unless regulations are in place, problems will most likely occur. The SEC is beefing up administration in the area to ensure proper surveillance is in place.

With recent malfeasance in the mutual fund industry, the SEC will continue to monitor rules to address abuses (pricing, market timing) that have occurred. The final action on most of the rules are to be out for comment by the beginning of the Fall, 2004. Task forces have been set up to examine these issues on disclosure and self-reporting for mutual funds.

Soft Dollars are also topical in Washington. Use of Soft Dollars has always been a gray area.The SEC would like to narrow the definition of what qualifies as research, to cut down on abuses. Chairman Donaldson recently formed a task force to examine potential conflicts relating to Soft Dollar arrangements. Other issues include, Section 31 fees that have been reduced, effective April 1, 2004, from $39 per million to $23.40 per million, because of increases in dollar volume of securities transactions. The SEC is also monitoring issues related to Options and Futures exchanges.

Dan Dowling, President, IETA (of Toronto)
416-863-7511
dan_dowling@scotiacapital.com

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The 2004 IETA Fall Bash will again be held at Habitat Lounge on Thursday, September 30, 2004 in the trendy Queen Street West neighborhood.

We hope to see you there, as it was great fun last year !!

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We had a wonderful day at Angus Glen G.C. The staff did a great job ensuring the day went smoothly, including the weather! I wanted to thank all those who donated balls and prizes for our event. We were also able secure many donations from local businesses.

Longest Drive winners on #7 were Cheryl Polan (Women) and Richard Kim (Men). On #11 the winners were Brenda Deline (Women) and Dave Harris(Men). Closest to the Pin was won by Fabiene Evans on #17. James Duncan won on #6 , and John Loeprich won on #12.

The 1st place team with a score of 63 included Dave Harris, Ted Norris, Blair Norris, and Nick Thadaney. In second, by retrogression, with a 66 included Marcia Akai, Peggy Bowie, Jim Duncan, and Chris Rigby. Also with a 66, the third place team included Brad Lowry, Ali Alladina, and Dave Jarvis. Congratulations to all!

Dan Dowling
416-863-7511
dan_dowling@scotiacapital.com

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This year’s CSTA conference was held in Kananaskis, Alberta in the Rocky Mountains. Ten educational and informative panel discussions were given. The main theme of the conference was how the rules and regulations are changing the way we trade. The trader’s role on the trading desk is changing. Streamlining the process of regulatory approval in Canada and the rest of the world was discussed. The “very hot” topic of soft dollars and STP/T+1 were discussed. The future market trends panel discussed new ways to trade securities outside of the TSX. The Canadian competitiveness and ethics panel discussed how the new Sarbanes-Oxley bill in the U.S.A. has changed corporate governance. Ralph Acampora gave his usual lively presentation on technical analysis and how to make money in a flat market. The second day of panel discussions spoke of the future of the investment business and how unbundling and best execution will be the new focus. Hedge funds and their significance in the Canadian market were also discussed. Senior buy and sell side traders gave their opinion of how market changes affect the way we work. Thanks to Andrew Willis who moderated the sessions.

As always, meetings were not the only focus. On Thursday afternoon, the annual golf tournament was held. The weather allowed golfers to test out their skills for this coming fall season!! The course was tough, which would explain why over 250 balls were lost by the group during the tournament. The theme of Thursday night’s dinner was Western, allowing us ‘city slickers’ to dress up in our favorite duds. A trip back to Calgary for the Stampede on Saturday afternoon was an exciting ending to this year’s conference.

Thanks to all attendees who helped raise $15,000 for charity, and to everyone on the CSTA board who put together a great conference.

Brent Mahoney
204-946-7955
Brent.Mahoney@gwlim.ca

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On April 29th Jim Beattie and Tom Gajer bravely undertook a charity event to raise funds for a new kitchen for Nazareth House - a non-denominational home for women at risk, operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto.

'THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE' night, at Centre Ring Boxing Club www.centrering.com was truly a clash of kindness and a battle of benevolence.

Jim and Tom trained for many months to provide the main entertainment in their efforts to help a very worthy cause.

The crowd was thrilled with the exhibitions of skill and agility performed by many young and very talented boxers.

At the end of the night the gloves were held high and over $54,000 CDN was raised through raffle tickets, auctions, event ticket sales and foundation sponsorships also held in conjunction with the "Take a Seat at the Table" Campaign.

Nazareth House on behalf of Sister June Dwyer, Executive Director, thanks all of our members profusely for your generous gift of $10,000 from the Bay Street Children's Foundation.

Nazareth House now has a new kitchen thanks to the compassion and humanity of the many people who worked so hard to make this happen.

Peggy Bowie
416-926-5462
peggy_bowie@mfcinvestments.com

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Albert Kovacs (TSX Makets), Pruyn Haskins (Scotia Capital) and Terry Horaski (TD Asset Management) debated issues surrounding the implementation of the Market-on-Close system in Canada. The TSX generously sponsored the event, which was well attended.

Al gave an overview of the MOC process and some areas that may be enhanced. Following his presentation, there was discussion of the whole MOC mechanism. Topics included:

* merits of the mechanism, and suggested improvements
* hiccups that were discovered soon after implementation
* the big Manulife index change
* gaming the system
* aggressive MOC trades

Although there were differences of opinion about how well the mechanism has worked, there was consensus that as awareness and use broadens, pricing will become more efficient.

Gary Knight
416-369-2672
gknight@omers.com

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IETA Fall Bash - Thursday, September 30, 2004
MIETA Oyster Party - October 2004
IETA Christmas Party 2004 - Thursday, December 9, 2004
IETA Annual and General Meeting - Thursday, June 9, 2005
IETA Annual Golf Tournament - Friday, June 10, 2005

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Congratulations and best wishes to the following individuals who have recently made moves:

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For further information regarding all current industry news, issues, and upcoming events, please log on to www.ietatoronto.org