Board of Trade

Board of Trade is literally a local association of business community. It is just another term for chamber of commerce that promotes and protects the interest of the business in that particular area.

However, in the United Kingdom, Board of Trade is a Government department that is concerned with commerce and industry. It is now a nominal British government office in the Department of Trade and Industry. It was constituted in 1786, whose functions within recent times have been considerably widened. It consists of a president (a Cabinet minister), and ex officio the Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, First Lord of the Treasury, the principal Secretaries of State, Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Speaker, and others. The actual work of the Board is left in the hands of the president and his secretarial staff. It comprises departments such as statistical and commercial, railways, marine, harbour, financial etc.

In the United States, the Chicago Board of Trade is called Board of Trade in short. It is a commonly known as the Chicago futures exchange.