Business & Finance: Margins

One effect of the Securities & Exchange Act upon Wall Street was a notable improvement in demand for margin clerks, that unsentimental class of brokerage house employes whose thankless task it is to keep tabs on customers' accounts. For the guidance of the Federal Reserve Board, which administers the credit end of Federal stockmarket control, Congress suggested a dual formula for fixing margin requirements which has been in effect since 1934. A broker could lend a customer the greater of either: 1) a flat percentage (now 45%) of a security's current market value; or 2) 100% of the lowest price-since July...

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