bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 2 (2010) — Summer 2010 // Été 2010, p. 5
Tradex was created 50 years ago this year. Establishing a mutual fund in 1960 was quite innovative as mutual funds were almost unknown at the time. Tom Fletcher was the man whose idea it was and he was the driving force in getting it up and running. Fletcher was the Director General of the Trade Commissioner Service at the time. He made it clear at the outset that it was to be a fund formed by foreign service officers for foreign service officers. It is, he kept saying, “your fund.”
À l’époque, les délégués commerciaux passaient une grande partie de leur temps outre-mer, certains même toute leur carrière. L’exemple le plus frappant en est peut-être Bruce Rankin qui a couronné son illustre carrière à titre d’ambassadeur du Canada au Japon sans jamais avoir servi au Canada! Cependant, faute de la facilité de communication dont nous jouissons à l’heure actuelle, il se révélait difficile, voire impossible, d’investir au Canada. Dans sa lettre établissant Tradex, M. Fletcher a exposé comme suit l’objectif du nouveau fonds : « satisfaire un besoin de longue date pour un moyen par lequel les employés du service extérieur des Affaires extérieures et du Commerce qui servent régulièrement à l’étranger et qui sont, de ce fait, privés de tout contact intime avec le Canada pourraient tout de même mettre en œuvre commodément un programme personnel de placements ».
Establishing Tradex was not without its difficulties. There were concerns that there might be potential conflict of interest in a fund where the shareholders and the Board of Directors alike were government employees. After considerable deliberation, the problem was resolved by ensuring that the fund would be managed by independent professional investment counsel. Their decisions on what stocks to buy and sell would not be influenced by the Tradex Board. It remains so today. The Board provides guidelines to the investment counsellors and questions their decisions but does not become involved in the selection or sale of investments.
Tradex evolved dramatically. Four years after its inception, it began offering RRSPs, which continue to be a major product. In 1970, a decision was made to broaden eligibility to include all active employees of the government and crown corporations. This was later expanded to include the families of government employees and retirees. In 1981, Tradex moved into its own quarters and, for the first time, had a paid employee. Seven years after that, a key decision was made to create Tradex Management Inc. to expand and strengthen its head office and to put in place a mechanism to establish other companion funds. In 1989 that led to the creation of what is now the Tradex Bond Fund and, in 1993, Tradex Investment Savings, a daily interest-bearing account.
Recognizing the growing importance of international markets, in 1994 an “Emerging Markets Fund” was created which morphed into today’s Global Fund. Tradex now had three proprietary funds to offer as a balanced portfolio to its unit holders. One of the most important and least well known moves took place in 2000 with the creation of “Tradex Plus” where Ontario residents became able to purchase, through Tradex, third party funds, bonds and GICs. Tradex is not resting on its laurels today: we have just begun to offer term life insurance. Tradex has a full-time staff of five who offer excellent financial advice. We also offer a wide range of products from other funds.
“Your fund” today is governed by a 10-member Board of Directors composed of current and retired public servants. Although Tradex has broadened beyond the foreign service, it is still very sensitive to the special needs of foreign service personnel. Three of the current board members are retired foreign service officers and there has never been a board that did not include a significant number of foreign service officers. Today Tradex has almost $200 million under management, a far cry from the $120,000 after its first year of operation. Had someone invested $1,000 in 1960 and left it there, it would be worth over $99,000 now.
Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, nous savons comme tout le monde que les enjeux sont importants. Comme nous avons pu le constater au cours des deux dernières années, les marchés peuvent devenir radicalement volatiles. Un autre enjeu de taille a trait à la concurrence accrue des grandes banques qui commercialisent avec dynamisme leurs propres produits par l’intermédiaire de leurs réseaux étendus de succursales. Nous devons faire mieux connaître Tradex et ses produits et, à cette fin, nous avons lancé un programme incitatif marquant notre 50° anniversaire et faisant la promotion de nos services de plus en plus haute gamme. Nous croyons que, grâce à son excellent personnel, à ses solides conseillers en placements et à sa vaste gamme de produits offerts sans but lucratif, Tradex continuera de satisfaire les besoins qu’il s’était fixé comme objectif il y a 50 ans. Il existe très peu de fonds au Canada qui puissent célébrer leur 50° anniversaire, et c’est tout à l’honneur de « votre fonds » et du service extérieur du Canada.
Al Kilpatrick is a retired foreign service officer.
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Originally published in / Publié à l’origine dans bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 2 (2010) — Summer 2010 // Été 2010, p. 5. Read the rest of this issue / Lire le reste de ce numéro →
