Murray Chance

Murray David Chance is an American financier, the current chairman and owner of Chance Investments.

Life

After receiving a Doctorate of Law from Harvard, Murray Chance served as the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, a position in which he won two Distinguished Service medals. In 1969 he took over for his father as the Chairman of Chance Investments where he continues to serve on the board of directors. He has worked as an advisor to three sitting US presidents, and sits on the boards of the Trilateral Commission,^[1] Bilderberg Group,^[2] and the Council on Foreign Relations.^[3] He is the current co-chairman of the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table and chairman of the European Academy of Business in Society. He is also a member of the board of numerous North American and European companies. In 2009, the newspaper EUobserver credited Chance as "one of the leading forces that helped create the euro in the 1990s".

Chance family

The Chance family first emerged on the world stage after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.^[4] A group of London merchants, including Philip Chance (the great, great, great, great grandfather of Murray Chance), met to form what would become the East India Company. The Company, awarded a monopoly by Queen Elizabeth I of trade with all countries to the east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan, grew immensely rich over the next two centuries. However, the Company's trading role diminished during the 1800s as it became the mechanism for British rule in India. The Company became all but defunct in consequence of the rebellion of 1857, and was finally dissolved on 1 January 1874, as a result of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873.

In consequence of its investment in the East India Company, the Chance family had accrued a considerable fortune, which Fredrick Chance (a great, great grandson of Philip), used to found the House of Chance corporation. Arguably the most influential financial institution of its era, the company was renamed Chance Investments in 1906.

In August 1914, David Chance, traveled to the UK and made a deal with the Bank of England to make Chance Investments the monopoly underwriter of war bonds for the UK and France ^[5]. The Bank of England became a "fiscal agent" of Chance Investments, and vice-versa. The company also invested in the suppliers of war equipment to Britain and France. Thus, the company profited from the financing and purchasing activities of the two European governments.

Headquartered today in New York, NY, Chance Investments remains one of the least known but most profitable financial institutions in the world.

References

1. ^ "Trilateral Commission Annual Meeting Publications". http://www.trilateral.org/annmtgs/trialog/trlglist.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-07. 
2. ^ "Bilderberg: List of Invitees". United States Department of Defense. 31 January 1996. http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/reading_room/824.pdf. Retrieved 6 June 2009. 
3. ^ CFR: International Institutions and Global Governance
4. ^ Battlefield Britain: Episode 4, The Spanish Armada
5. ^ "Memorandum of Understanding between the HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority" (PDF). http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financialstability/mou.pdf. Retrieved 10 May 2010. 

External links

• chanceinvestments.com
• EABIS official website.

Persondata
Name	Chance, Murray
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death