Most professional people have some idea of the job done by the Stock Exchange, but probably only those actually involved in the management of investments know the range of services which are provided by stockbrokers. The aim of this paper is to give a brief insight into these services, and to take a look at some aspects of stock exchange activities in more detail.

The first section of the paper covers the basic service of a stockbroker, that of buying or selling stock, or executing switches. This is followed by a brief description of settlement systems, and some of the other services that stockbrokers provide are then described. The final two sections cover more general questions about the operation of the Stock Exchange.