About Us

The Canadian Capital Markets Association (CCMA) is a federally incorporated, not-for-profit organization, launched to identify, analyze and recommend ways to meet the challenges and opportunities facing Canadian and international capital markets. The current priority of the CCMA is institutional trade-date matching.

Mission

To enhance the competitiveness of Canada's capital markets through a forum of industry experts who provide leadership and direction to the investment community.

Today's Core Purpose

The CCMA is focusing on the institutional marketplace, promoting efficient and timely trade-date matching among capital market participants. Previously, the CCMA worked to facilitate the Canadian securities industry’s overall preparedness to implement straight-through-processing (STP) strategies. In 2004, research commissioned by the CCMA and conducted by the Capital Markets Company (Capco), found both Canada and the U.S. capital markets are adopting straight-through processing. However, while Canada is ahead in terms of retail payments and dematerialization, Canada lags in the area of trade-date matching of institutional delivery-versus-payment trades attributed to technological, behavioural/process and regulatory reasons.

The CCMA believes institutional trade-date matching will require an integrated set of rules among regulators and self-regulatory organizations (SROs) and it recommends using the existing framework of self-regulatory organizations to support this objective. The association is committed to working with the regulators, SROs and industry participants to make this objective a reality.

Mandate

• Created on August 9, 2000, the CCMA is the Canadian securities industry's forum to address changes occurring in global securities markets:
• Increased on-and off-exchange securities trading volumes and volatility due in part to the growth in on-line trading
• Significant growth in cross-border transactions, where the complexities of multiple market structures, currencies, languages, time zones, players, legal/regulatory/tax environments and demands for collateral lead to high transaction fail rates
• Longer hours of trading
• Increased systemic risk
• Consolidation of market players and, at the same time, new entrants
• Increased reliance on technology
• Increased regulatory oversight

Value Proposition

The CCMA strives to add value to its Members by championing a more efficient institutional trade-date matching process.  Value can be measured by:

• Improved operational efficiencies for investment managers
• Lower staff and vendor costs at broker/dealers.
• Increased efficiencies for custodians by reducing exceptions to focus on value-added activities.
• Reduced systemic risk leading to less regulatory intervention.

Canada’s capital markets must be competitive internationally and be well positioned to move to a straight-through processing environment in tandem with global markets.

Institutional Trade-Date Matching (ITM) Information

To receive information on ITM on an ongoing basis, send your name, title, mailing address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address to info@ccma-acmc.ca.