The Jobbing System of the London Stock Exchange: An Oral History
Ref.No.: 24	Playback No.:

Interviewee's surname: Raven	Title:  Mr
Interviewee's forenames: Stephen E.J.
Date of birth:   19 January 1938         Sex: Male

Date(s) of recording: 16 May, 24 May 1990 
Location of interview: Garban Holdings Ltd 
Name of interviewer:  Bernard Attard 
Type of recorder:  Marantz CP 430
Total no. of tapes:      4	Speed:
Type of tape:   TDK AR 60	Noise reduction:  DBX
Mono or stereo:  Stereo	Original or copy:  Copy
Additional material: Copyright/Clearance: CMH; no restrictions (originally: 'The material may not be used for publication for ten years from the date below without my permission in writing').

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Tape 1, Side 1

Birth; parents, and grandparents; father a stock jobber; mother works in father's firm; visits to father's offices as a boy; standard of living at home; father's career; influence of parents; Stock Exchange consists of family firms; jobs done by women in Stock Exchange firms; education; interest in architecture; family attitude to education; works for a time with a building firm; applies for early call-up to RAF; obtains job as office boy with father's firm, Stocken & Concanon; description of firm; divide between Floor and back office staff; becomes a red-button clerk; the checking room; importance of relationships formed in the checking room; importance of efficiency; mistaken bargains; how becomes a blue button; Col. Concanon, senior partner of Stocken & Concanon.

Tape 1, side 2

Description of the partners in Stocken & Concanon; Harold Moore; early impressions of the House; the waiters; difficulty of understanding the waiters shouting the firm's name; difficulty of identifying brokers and the problems which arose; limits and importance of speed in finding a broker; difficulty of finding brokers; trade in maps among blue buttons; status of blue buttons; Stocken & Concanon pitch and proximity to other jobbers; jobbers' boards; manipulating board price to mislead other jobbers; board a means of attracting brokers onto the pitch; different prices to different brokers; discriminating between brokers; brokers dealing on insider information.	

Tape 2, side 1

Brokers who were not welcome on the pitch; National Service; Stocken & Concanon continue to pay Stephen Raven because sees his potential as a dealer; parents' attitude to Stephen Raven having a Stock Exchange career; decides to return to Stocken & Concannon; difficulty in remembering the price of stocks; brokers dependent on jobber for information; starts trading after hours; develops following among younger brokers; acquires confidence as a dealer; influence of father; short-term approach of other members of the firm; importance of relationship with John Purcell; firm becomes a force in American/Canadian market; expand into Canadian/Irish mining and North Sea Oil Canadian stocks; develops relationship with Canadian broking firm, Wood Gundie; first visit to America in 1969; relationship with correspondent firm in New York and the nature of the business done by it; contrast with arbitrage done by brokers; 1970 opens joint account with American firm, Cohen Deloher Kaufman, which eventually acquires; confidence in the jobbing system; improvements in communications; acquires Stockmaster; efficiency of cable communication; has Stockmaster installed on the pitch.

Tape 2, side 2

Stockmaster attracts brokers onto the pitch; other jobbers complain to the Council; exchange control extended to sterling area in 1972/73; Stocken & Concanon make markets in the dollar premium; Labour introduces tax on premium; Stocken & Concanon develop business in handling currency transactions for brokers; Stocken & Concanon does currency transactions for jobbing firm of Lazarus Brothers; Stocken & Concanon merges with Lazarus; Stephen Raven becomes senior partner; boom in gold stocks; takes over Bradford Brothers; takes over foreign security business of Berger; buys Berger's computer system, which is a mistake; Stocken the sixth largest jobber; invited by Michael Marriott to become a member of the Stock Exchange Council; change in Stock Exchange rules permitting broker to deal with any non-member firms in foreign securities; activities on Stock Exchange Council; death of Marriott and consequences for internationalising the Stock Exchange; contrast of service provided by a jobber to that provided by a non-member broking firm; attraction of outside houses to London brokers; proportion of business in foreign securities done outside the Stock Exchange; difficult for Stocken to expand; takes over Cohen; 1976 decline in gold market; referral of Stock Exchange rule book to the Restrictive Practices Court.

Tape 3, side 1

Feelings about the referral of the rulebook; jobbing is under strain; decision to defend the rule book blocks progressive change in Stock Exchange; creation of traded options market under the single capacity system; crisis among jobbers; overseas houses start to deal in UK domestic stocks; Parkinson-Goodison agreement; the link argument and the decision to abolish single capacity; arguments against a phased introduction of reforms.

Interview resumed, 24 May Tape 3, side 2

Merger between Stocken and Akroyd; Akroyd opens up in Eurobond market; attitude of jobbers and Stock Exchange to Eurobonds; characteristics of the Eurobond market; American houses start dealing in UK domestic securities, particularly in the form of American Depository Receipts (ADRs); Stock Exchange handicapped by the referral of the rule book to the Restrictive Practices Court;; brokers start doing business in foreign securities away from the Stock Exchange; development of put throughs; relationship between research and put throughs; effect of put through business on jobbers; formation of the jobbers' committee; attitude of brokers to jobbers; bias in Stock Exchange rules towards brokers.

Tape 4, side 1

Stock Exchange Council weighted in favour of brokers; formation of the jobbers' committee; price agreements; brokers who give different jobbers orders in the same stock; institutions which give different brokers parts of the same order; Stephen Raven gradually gives up active jobbing after joining the Council; disadvantages of Council members not actively involved in their businesses; other jobbing firms in foreign securities; foreign security market in London secondary to the main market for the stocks; market always knows more about stocks than jobber; example of how does business in these circumstances.

Tape 4, side 2

Jobbers deal with specialist brokers in foreign securities; different prices to different brokers; 1979/80, jobbers permitted to deal direct with members of overseas exchanges; SEAQ International; strength of jobbing system is the separation of capacities; no real weaknesses; merger of firms; fragmentation of market in international securities; brokers, specialisation in research; jobbers' contact with clients; qualities of a successful jobber.