Canada

A largely agricultural and resource based economy, Canada is the tenth largest economy globally and is one of the world’s wealthiest nations. Dating back to 1832, the Canadian securities industry commenced when the shares of Canada’s first railroad were traded in a Montréal coffee house. Its first stock exchange, the Montreal Stock Exchange was incorporated in 1874, since then the securities industry has grown substantially due in part to its close physical proximity to the US.

The Canadian financial market is relatively stable in comparison to its counterparts due to its prudent approach to regulation. However it currently does not have a single national regulator commentators are suggesting that Canada will not be able to respond as nimbly to emerging crises; a national commission would however "build confidence" internationally in Canada's capital markets and would draw more investors to the country.

Increased globalisation, rapid technological advances specifically with high frequency trading, alternative trading platforms and increased focus on regulation will be key challenges going forward for Canada.

United States

Since the days of colonisation in the 1700’s the United States has grown to be a large, industralised economy that makes up approximately a quarter of the world economy. With its roots in agricultural, natural resources and manufacturing sectors, the American economy has attracted immigrants by the millions seeking to make their own ‘American dream’ a reality. In 1790 the first US exchange was established, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, two years later the NYSE was founded and would later become one of the largest exchanges worldwide.

The US Capital markets have historically been under regulated; this is obvious with the crash of 1929 and more recently with the 2007/2008 Global Financial Crisis where the idea of ‘every man for himself’ has aptly been applied. However the sheer scale of the impact has left a number of investment banks and stockbrokers falling into either bankruptcy or insolvency resulting in a billion dollar bail out provided by the US government to somewhat alleviate the crisis.

There are signs that the economy is recovering, albeit at a much slower pace but relatively stable. Growth will remain slow by historical standards, due in part to an unemployment drag. Whilst trading volumes have somewhat increased, they are still quite low compared to pre GFC levels. Increased focus on regulatory issues specifically to do with operational risk and high frequency trading will dominate, along with the proliferation of mobile trading platforms to increase employee productivity, satisfy customers and potentially open new business revenues.

Latin America

Historically unstable, Latin America as a whole has been working towards a more stable economy, making significant progress over the last decade in developing their capital markets; this has occurred against the backdrop of increasing macroeconomic, financial and political stability. However growth is still slow in comparison to the emerging markets of other regions.

Many of the Latin American economies did not suffer as much as their rest of the developed world due in part to Latin America’s solid macroeconomic policy and shift towards greater trade relations with Asia. Brazil has been the leader in this movement, and in many ways it is more similar to developed capital markets than to its regional neighbours.

Ongoing challenges for Latin America are primarily around increasing infrastructure of the market, regulation and liberalization of the capital markets. Systems that need particular emphasis from governments and policy makers going forward relate to standarised regulation, payment, clearing and settlement procedures.