ABSTRACT
The prospect of the introduction of a licensing system for share traders could potentially threaten the independence of the Stock Exchange. The Exchange welcomed the committee's appointment suggests that the Exchange trusted that appointment of its Deputy Chairman to the committee would provide a means of securing a congenial outcome. The Board of Trade, in response to the Committee's report, adopted a position that was consistent with the government's general approach to industrial organisation. In effect, this was the point that the Board of Trade had put to the Exchange in negotiating the way in which the Bodkin Committee's recommendations should be implemented. The practical effect of this would have been that the Exchange would have been given statutory recognition without being subjected to oversight by the Board of Trade.
