Received from Datek today: By now you may already be aware of the efforts that Datek Online Holdings Corp. is engaging in to open a Canadian affiliate ("Datek Canada") of Datek Online Financial Services LLC ("DOFS"). We know that there is tremendous interest among Canadians to benefit from the advantages that DOFS began offering to U.S. customers in 1996, including free, unlimited streaming real-time quotes, low cost commissions, advanced order routing, and other unique trading tools and advantages for investors trading stocks and options*. It is this collection of tools that proves that Datek is Built to TradeSM. While all the details are not finalized yet, Datek Canada hopes to begin to offer these services to Canadian residents sometime in 2002. In preparation for this move, we would like to get input from you, so that we may best address your needs and quickly offer you the best possible service for your account. Please take a moment to share with us your thoughts and experiences. Simply complete this survey online. It should only take 5 to 7 minutes, and your input will help determine the shape of Datek Canada. Simply click the survey link below. Datek Canada Survey Datek Canada is excited about the opportunity to service you in the future. As they move forward, we will keep you informed of any developments that will affect Canadian residents. Thank you for your time and input. Warm regards, John J. Mullin President Datek Online Financial Services LLC www.datek.com
The survey link did not reproduce. Here is the url: http://infopoll.net/Live/surveys/s15683.htm?523696
I emailed Datek to ask if they had completed the registration process in Canada, in the hope that this would mean IB had too. However, the canned response from their help desk didn't answer the question.
I asked them this same question about a month ago. Their reply was only that they were intending to. I interpret this as being very early in the process. However, if sufficient brokers in the US take up the task, maybe, just maybe, something might start moving with the Canadian foot dragging process.
IB seems to be giving up on their application for Canada because of the roadblocks put up by the OSC and IDA. I don't imagine the road for Datek will be much better.
from a post by def on Canadian incorporating in the US thread: re: IB - i'll post on the other thread when i get some time later this weekend but.... i rec'd a response to a request i made regarding the IB application. It went something like this.... "We are telling the Canadian prospects that we want to serve them but that their regulator is making it impossible to deliver the service that we want to give them without adding cost prohibitive redundant layers to our business".
Cdntrader, Datek is looking for buyers, an emerging potential buyer is E*trade. What will probably happen if E*trade buys Datek is that Datek Canadian accounts will be transferred to E*trade Canada and forced to pay $27+ minimum commissions per trade. Similar thing happened when TDWaterhouse bought RJT. Canadian RJT accounts paying $5 flat fee for unlimited shares will be transferred to TDWaterhouse Canada, where they'll be forced to pay $29+ per trade. Therefore, having a Canadian branch is not always beneficial for Canadian traders, but some competition will definitely improve the quality of execution and pricing in the protectionist olygopolystic brokerage industry in Canada. "If the mountain won't come to Mohhamed then Mohammed will have to go to the mountain"
The BCSC has just launched some far-reaching deregulation proposals. Full details can be found in this link: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca:8080/comdoc.n...A68DCE2EFFB8575588256B64005970F8?OpenDocument Here is a key component of the proposal as far as Canadian traders are concerned. "Canadian residents who seek out foreign registrants would not have the protections of Canadian law, but that would be their choice. Our responsibility to protect investors in our markets does not extend to protecting them when they voluntarily and without solicitation choose to do business in foreign markets." This would mean that Canadians would be free to do business with US brokers and US mutual fund companies, providing they didn't solicit our business. They are inviting responses. I urge all Canadians here to respond supporting this concept, whether you live in BC or not (they are holding hearings in other cities), to counter the inevitable negative responses from the brokers and fund companies. This is the first sign of a breaking or ranks amongst the regulators and we must get behind the proposal and build on the opportunity it creates.
P.S would someone post a copy of this message on the Canadian forums on Silicon Investor please. I don't have posting privileges there. Post it anywhere else Canadian traders might hang out too.