The opening shot came in 1975 when fixed commissions on securities issues were abolished in America, opening the cosy world of stockbroking up to competition.
But, so far, members staunchly reject any change in fixed commissions.
The fixed commissions went away because, I think, of the FTC.
In the early 1970s Congress and the SEC required the NYSE to phase out fixed commissions for larger transactions, and ended them for all investors in 1975.
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Price competition was not allowed, fixed commissions were the norm.
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What paid for that elaborate human infrastructure was fixed commissions.
Perhaps the time has come for a date to be set for obliterating all the old boundaries, a sort of telecom version of Wall Street's big bang more than 20 years ago, when fixed commissions were abolished.
Thanks to high fixed commissions and little interest in building wealth for investors, customers were encouraged to buy and sell shares and investment trusts, Japan's version of mutual funds, as often as possible (a practice known as churning).
Authorities in the United States, the UK and Australia are investigating whether the 256-year-old auctioneer and its main rival, Christie's International, fixed sale commissions.
Its pressure may have swayed Hong Kong's banks to phase out fixed interest rates on deposits, and stockbrokers to end their cartel in commissions.
Another example: Brokerage commissions for buying and selling stocks were once set by the SEC at a fixed level.
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