A nation of savers has become a nation of investors. Investment is more mobile. It was a Canadian who first observed that the world was becoming a global village. Now, Canadian investors and companies are becoming increasingly active in the global village marketplace. The Internet is driving that trend at cyberspeed.
Investment is more democratic.
The most important distinction between a broker and a client used to be that one had information and the other didn't. That distinction is fading rapidly. Almost half of Canadians with access to the Internet use it to do their own research, without relying on their broker. Investment is more self-directed. It used to be that the way you made a trade was to call your broker.