Operators of the world's 50 largest stock exchanges are working together to call for regulatory change to combat off-market trades in large blocks of shares held in so-called dark pools because they are concealed from scrutiny.
SCMP, April 23
Ron Arculli is on a crusade again. In a parting shot as he stepped down as our stock exchange chairman, he donned armour and belted on his sword and waved it threateningly at the evil Dark Pool.
Before we go too far down the line with this metaphor of shining knight rescues fair maiden, however, and remembering that there is no fair maiden here anyway, just how evil is the dark pool and how noble the motives of the stock exchange that seeks an end to this upstart?
Our stock exchange is a relatively new creation. It was put together in 1986 as a branch of the civil service (government has a majority of the votes) by combining three other stock exchanges and a practical joke, the Kowloon Exchange, which someone thought was real.
To make this merger palatable, all seat holders of the former exchanges who wanted a seat on the new one were given one. We still have almost 500 of these 'participants' on the exchange at the moment.