Bernie Dan’s arrival into the derivatives business in 1972 was quite simply an accident. An accident of timing that would later have profound implications for the industry worldwide in both a market sense and in its regulatory environment. And the accident? Dan, who had studied accountancy at St John’s University in New York State, had just graduated. The newly formed National Futures Association was recruiting auditors and he was an auditor. It was as simple as that. For Dan this turned out not to be the end of his education — rather the start of a learning process that has lasted him to this day. “My work at the NFA was the beginnings of where I got into this market, where I learnt the industry, understood the industry and then became aware of commodity advisers, futures commission merchants and the other players in the business,” he says. “Part of my...