Mary Pieterse-Bloem rings the opening bell at Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange

Professor Mary Pieterse-Bloem did so in the presence of double degree student Yasmine van der Straten.Professor Mary Pieterse-Bloem was given this honour on the occasion of her election as Dutch Investment Influential 2018 last month by IEXProfs.

The opening of the stock exchange with a sound signal is an old tradition, which dates from 1529. In that year, the municipality of Amsterdam introduced the first set of regulation which were intended to create order and regularity in the stock market trading. These regulations led to codes of conduct, fixed trading times and a stock exchange servant ('beursknecht'), which would ring the bell on set times to open the stock exchange. Centuries later, the bells of the stock exchange were still rung to open a trading day. 

However, this did not happen daily anymore, but only on the occasion of important visits or when a new fund was listed. That changed at the beginning of the 21st century. At the end of 2002, Job Cohen, who then was the mayor of Amsterdam, closed the trading day and therewith the 'open outcry' floor trading exchange.

Years later, Job Cohen opened the floor for traders that now worked from behind their desktops. When he did so, it was collectively thought that it would be nice to open each trading day with the bells ceremony. And so it happened: Many famous persons have followed in Cohen's footsteps since, just like Professor Mary Pieterse-Bloem did today.