NYSE plans 'independent' board

Interim New York Stock Exchange boss John Reed is trying to put the market's scandal-hit recent past behind it by calling for a fully independent board.

Mr Reed's plan would take power over the exchange away from the Wall Street investment banks who ran it before and were criticised for rubber-stamping a $140m pay deal for former chairman Richard Grasso.

The current 27-member board, he told a news conference, "did not serve the institution well" and have all been asked to resign.

Among the nominees for the board, to be re-elected every year, are two existing members: former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Herbert Allison, chairman of giant pension fund TIAA-CREF.

Others include former heads of investment bank JP Morgan, agriscience firm Monsanto and oil field services group Schlumberger.

The NYSE's membership are to vote on the plan on 19 November.

Mr Reed also said he himself would not be standing for the role of non-executive chairman.

The co-chief operating officers, Catherine Kinney and Robert Britz, are excluded from the list of candidates for the board.

A wider "board of executives" with representation from Wall Street firms, specialists and others would also take part in running the exchange, Mr Reed said.

No changes to the way stock are traded - by the old-fashioned "open outcry" system rather than electronic matching of buyers and sellers - or to the NYSE's self-regulated status are planned.