WFE head sounds alarm over spread of 'dark pools'

TORONTO/NEW YORK: "Dark pools," or venues where stock trades are hidden from public view, have proliferated around the globe without a "careful regulatory plan," the head of the world's main exchanges group said.

William Brodsky, chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), said these alternative trading venues - where stocks change hands anonymously at prices not disclosed publicly - have no regulatory obligation and lack transparency.

"What our concern is on the dark pools is that these have evolved without a careful regulatory plan," he told a press teleconference at the end of the WFE annual meeting in Vancouver.