Happy 150^th Birthday,
Montréal Exchange!

On May 1, 1832, several of Montréal’s leading merchants, including brewer John Molson and Peter McGill, President of the Bank of Montreal, met at Asa Goodenough’s Exchange Coffee House at the corner of rue Saint-Paul and rue Saint-Pierre in Old Montréal. 

They gathered to raise money for Canada’s first railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad. They all contributed money, and invited members of the public to buy shares.

The mid-19th century was a period of enormous growth in Montreal generally, and in trading more specifically. The Board of Stock and Produce Brokers was established in 1842 to promote and standardize the sale of stock and produce, and in 1848 a group of local merchants set up the Board of Brokers.

The move to formalize trading grew steadily in response to urgent needs for capital in Montreal, Quebec and, as of 1867, the Dominion of Canada.

Leadership and inspiration took things to the next level. Under the guidance of several brokers, including three MacDougall brothers – Dugald Lorn, Hartland St. Clair and George Campbell – the Board of Brokers morphed into the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1872. Two years later, on January 28, 1874, the Montreal Stock Exchange was formally incorporated under a special charter by an act of the Legislature of Quebec.

According to that charter, the newly established corporation was “to provide and regulate a stock exchange and offices in the City of Montreal”. The Exchange would also “compile records and publish statistics respecting the business of the members of the said stock exchange”.

We had only 63 shares listed in our first year, daily trading was often fewer than 800 shares, and we had 40 members. But we were growing on a strong foundation. By 1900, average daily trading was approximately 7,000 shares among our 45 members.

The dawn of the 20th century was a period of massive growth. Montréal-based manufacturing soared from $85 million in 1900 to close to $200 million only ten years later. That same figure was more than $550 million by 1928.

Montréal was Canada’s financial capital at the time, stimulating much of that growth. Our stock list expanded and trading volumes rose. By 1907, we were among the world’s major exchanges, attracting domestic and international investors.

Trading on Toronto Stock Exchange surpassed ours in the early 1930s. But we continued to expand and innovate in serving the needs of Montréal-based firms such as Bell Canada, Power Corporation and Rio Tinto (Alcan), among others, contributing to local, national and, in some cases, global growth.

Like many of our Montréal-based clients over the years, we have actively capitalized on opportunities to link Montréal to the world. Making strategic connections to international exchanges forges those links.

Through growth, acquisitions and strategic integrations, we have regularly innovated to offer dynamic, reliable and advanced trading facilities for 150 years.

Fostering growth at various stages of an issuer’s evolution has been part of that story. Between 1926 and 1933, for example, 25 issuers moved from the Montreal Curb Exchange – established in 1926 as a marketplace for emerging stocks – to the Montreal Stock Exchange.

We announced game-changing innovation on June 4, 1964 by boldly declaring that we would become “the most advanced electronic stock exchange system in the world.” A decade later, in our centennial year, the Montreal Stock Exchange merged with the Canadian Stock Exchange – the renamed Montreal Curb Market – and the organization retained the name of the larger exchange.

In 1975, we began our transformation into a financial derivatives exchange by becoming the first exchange in Canada to offer stock options.

The pace of change kept increasing, leading the way to founding Canada’s first derivatives clearinghouse, the Montreal Options Clearing Corporation in 1975. Changing our name in 1982 to Montréal Exchange reflected the growing importance of options and futures on our trading floor.

The pace of change increased rapidly over the following years. The launch in 1983 of Montréal Exchange Registered Representative Order Routing System (MORRE) highlighted our innovation, as do these other examples of products launched on MX:

• April 1988, three-month Canadian bankers' acceptance futures contracts, (BAX^TM)
• September 1989, 10-year Government of Canada bond futures contracts, (CGB^TM)
• January 1995, five-year Government of Canada bonds futures contracts, (CGF^TM).

In 1999, we led a restructuring of the Canadian capital markets that made us the first traditional exchange in North America to specialize in derivatives. We demutualized and further enhanced our automation, setting the stage for even more innovation. For example:

• September 7, 1999, we traded futures contracts (SXF^TM) on the S&P/TSX 60 Index
• April 2004, we launched two-year Government of Canada bond futures (CGZ^TM)
• October 2005, we completed the first implementation phase of a proprietary “next generation” trading system called SOLA^®.
• November 2007, we began trading 30-year Government of Canada bond futures (LGB^TM).

In early 2008 we combined with TSX to create TMX Group. As Luc Bertrand said about this exciting step, “The new group will redefine the Canadian capital markets and strengthen its global positioning.” This opened the door to an accelerated rate and scope of innovation.

Launching three-month CORRA Futures contract (CRA^TM) and re-listing 2-year Government of Canada bond futures (CGZ^TM) in 2020, and then one-month CORRA Futures contract (COA^TM) in 2023, and options on the three-month CORRA Futures (OCR^TM) in January 2024 are other chapters in our long story of exchange leadership and market innovation.

We have had 45 different presidents since 1874, three of whom held the office for two separate terms. Henry Norman was the Exchange’s first full-time president, as of 1956. There have been 13 Francophone presidents since 1874, starting with Louis-Joseph Forget in 1895. The first full-time Francophone president was Michel Bélanger, who held the role from 1972-1976. Since January 1, 1972, all nine presidents have been Francophone.

Our leaders have worked with highly experienced colleagues in navigating wars, pandemics, business cycles and scandals over the last 150 years. We have helped to create significant wealth and countless jobs within the broader ecosystem of traders, issuers and regulators. We have also experienced challenges that come with operating marketplaces in which some degree of risk is always present.

In 2024, our team is more resilient and diverse than ever. Together we are building even stronger foundations for the next 150 years.