Strictly speaking, the broker lives on these commissions, though, of
course, his intimate knowledge of the market affords him special
facilities for speculating and investing on his own account. He must
not, however, it may be repeated, deal with his own clients; directly he
buys or sells for himself he becomes a principal, and is not in that
connection a broker at all. Moreover, he must not arrange with the
jobber to whom he takes the business for part of the profit which the
jobber makes. In the eye of the Stock Exchange, such collusion between
broker and jobber would be regarded as dishonesty of the grossest
nature, and would probably result in the instant expulsion of both the
parties concerned. As a matter of fact, however, the broker frequently
divides the commissions with an outside runner or with a member of his
staff who introduces the business, although he is strictly forbidden to
enter into partnership with one who is not a member of the Stock
Exchange.
An adventitious source of income which the broker enjoys arises from the
formation of new companies and the flotation of loans, especially large
loans issued by the Government and municipal bodies. The broker is
called upon to circulate the prospectuses amongst his clients; he stamps
his name upon each application form, and the issuing house pays him a
commission upon all allotments made to his clients. He may even
underwrite loans or share issues--that is, undertake to subscribe for a
certain amount, should the public refuse to come in. This he does in
return for a commission, or some other consideration, which is paid
whether he is called upon to take up his proportion of the issue or not.
It is to the interest of the loan issuers and the company promoters to
make sure, in this way, that their capital shall be all taken up. Some
promoters boast in their prospectuses that the issue they are making has
not been underwritten, implying, of course, that the issue is so
attractive that they are sure the public will take it up. But in these
cases the truth sometimes is that the issue is not underwritten simply
because nobody can be induced to underwrite it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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