Recall that in late 2011, the SEC charged Pipeline Trading for running its dark pool as a mere storefront to a proprietary trading operation owned by the same company. The firm was accused of not disclosing that it was operating a securities firm to interact with Pipeline orders, while customers were led to believe they were interacting with a wide range of other buy-side companies. The shocking incident created some uncertainty on the buy-side, as they started to voice more concern about what exactly happens to their orders. 

The great debate over dark pools revolves around the extent to which they fragment the national market system and whether such fragmentation imposes any costs on investors.

You hear a lot of rhetoric these days about how consumers are demanding better, more convenient services and how banks are responding with cool experiences. There's no doubt a lot of truth to this. Banks really are delivering radical improvements in mobile banking services, piggybacking the soaring utility of smart phones in general.

When it comes to banks, the conventional wisdom holds that social media has made strong inroads in customer service, but much less so in marketing. Overall, it's fair to say that a lot of banks and brokerages are still struggling to figure it all out. 

Insurance to cover cyber-security events has moved to the front burner over the past few years, as boards react to the escalating risks. Most companies will agree that it's only a matter of time before the cyber bad guys breach their systems. The goal now is to minimize the fallout and prevent as much damage as possible. That may seem defeatist, but it is quite realistic.