From back room to world force!

Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment's 20th anniversary

The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) recently marked its 20th anniversary.

Forerunner to the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, the organisation was set up by London Stock Exchange practitioners to fill a void.  

Since the Big Bang in 1986, the Stock Exchange had relinquished much of its role as a professional body. The Exchange had announced that individual membership would cease from 1 April 1992 and the Institute would take on the role.

Today, the Institute is the largest professional body for those who work in the securities and investment industry in the UK, where it is fully accredited by the FSA.

It has also developed on the international stage, with offices in India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the UAE. Membership has grown from 4,000 in the UK to more than 40,000 in 101 countries. Its qualifications are recognised by a growing number of regulators worldwide and, in the past year, it set almost 40,000 exams in more than 70 countries. That compares with about 8,000 exam applications in 1992/93.

The CISI now runs 16 branches across the British Isles and ten National Advisory Councils around the world including Sri Lanka.

CISI’s first Chairman Graham Ross Russell recalled that in 1992, together with three other former Stock Exchange Council members, he was given the task of setting up the Securities Institute (SI).

“We started from a back room on Throgmorton Street in the City and our staff, who became the backbone of the new operation, had previously run the existing Stock Exchange exam. Our challenge was to evolve into a professional organisation that would have real influence on standards of integrity and professional competence among individual practitioners. To do this, we had to expand our membership, develop our services and try to make an impact on a global marketplace. Within a year, there were 8,000 members; within ten years, 17,000,” he said.

“As part of a global market, we wanted the ethical and professional standards that London was maintaining to be mirrored overseas, and to attract business to the London market. We helped to start a sister organisation in Hong Kong; we ‘exported’ our exams to South Africa; and we initiated contacts within China, India, the Middle East, Europe and the US,” Russell said.

“The work of the SI – now the CISI – has expanded greatly from these small beginnings. It is a pleasure to see how its influence has extended,” he added.

CISI’s current Chairman since 2009 Alan Yarrow  said the Institute adds real value to the commercial lives of its members and the benefit to their clients.

This is possible only with the right people working here who are committed to professionalism and efficiency. Equally, the Institute couldn’t function without those members who give their time and invaluable advice for the benefit of others. You can’t teach experience, but you can share it, and hopefully those with whom we share that experience won’t make the same mistakes.

The next 20 years will be just as exciting as the last. Things will change in the industry and, while we might see some minor tweaking of our principles, they will remain largely the same.

We will continue to enforce them because we believe they are timeless, not only ‘My word is my bond’, but also ‘The client comes first’,” he added.

Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange said the CISI has become vital in helping to maintain London’s position as the world’s leading financial centre.

“Today, the CISI is also developing a fast-growing international presence. As the global economy changes, this international presence will become increasingly important, setting high standards of professional excellence and integrity for the investment and securities industry around the world.

Here is a graphical reflection on the history of the Institute, whose heritage dates back more than 200 years to its origins in the London Stock Exchange.