(June 15 – 10:30 ET) – The Investment Dealers Association today released statistics on outstanding debt in client margin accounts. The new data is effective as at April 30.

Total outstanding debt in client margin accounts at IDA member firms totalled $10.3 billion as at the end of April this year, up 11% over the year-end 1999 figure of $9.3 billion. The increase over the latest four-month period is in line with the 12% increase at U.S. broker-dealers. Client margin debt at U.S. firms totalled $269 billion last April, more than 25 times the corresponding Canadian figure.

Last March the IDA said it would collect data on outstanding debt in client margin accounts from member firms monthly, and release it on a timely basis to the general public. The statistics for this month and subsequent months will be available on the IDA Web site www.ida.ca.

-IE Staff