Arthur R. Marcus

 

Arthur Marcus served as FIA chairman from 1984 to 1986, a time when proposals to merge the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission were once again circulating in Washington. In his keynote address at the Boca conference in 1985, Marcus eloquently argued against such a merger because of the differences in the two regulatory structures, but called on the futures industry to promote cooperation with the securities industry on a number of issues, notably common clearing. Under his leadership, the FIA made substantial progress on improving relations between its member firms and the exchanges and achieving a consensus on the thorny issue of FCM capital requirements. His success in this area undoubtedly derived from his experience working at a range of firms in the industry, including Gerald Commodities, Reynolds Securities, Geldermann & Co. and Fimat. In 1988, he made a further contribution to the industry as the first chairman of the Futures Industry Institute, a non-profit organization founded to develop and promote educational products.