Barclays Bank seems like it is next in line to settle with the authorities regarding its dark pool operations. 
 
In recent years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York State Attorney General (NYSAG) have focused on the disruptive nature of dark pools and high frequency trading: especially when used in tandem, as the authorities allege to be the case with Barclays Bank.  The SEC and NYSAG claim Barclays misled its clients into believing high frequency traders would be less active in their LX dark pool trading venue.
 
Dark pools are essentially private, anonymous, off-exchange and opaque venues that permit the trading of exchange-listed securities.  This structure helps camouflage the trading strategies of large financial institutions, such as mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, and insurance funds to afford them optimal profits or minimal losses.  These venues are lightly regulated, require less public disclosure, do not carry the same protective margin requirements as the public exchange marketplaces, and allow banks to forego paying fees to exchanges for trade execution.    
 
Dark pool trading as a percentage of total trading volume more than tripled from 4 percent in early 2008 to nearly 14 percent by the end of 2011, according to Rosenblatt Securities.  Haoxiang Zhu, a financial economist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the author of a new paper in the Review of Financial Studies, cites a study in which 71 percent of financial professionals believe dark pools are "somewhat" or "very" problematic in establishing stock prices.
 
Despite denying any wrongdoing and fighting this case, Barclays is in serious discussions to pay a fine of $65 million.
 
Thus far, two firms have agreed to pay fines related to this activity: $14 million by UBS Group and $20.3 million by Investment Technology Group, which has admitted to wrongdoing in its case.  A third, Credit Suisse, has a planned agreement to pay an $85 million fine.  
 
To evade recent proposals that would regulate and undermine dark pool trading, some U.S. banks are conducting their derivative trades through non-U.S. subsidiaries that do not have explicit guarantees from the U.S. parent.
 
The SEC and other regulatory bodies need to keep the playing field level for all, and where possible, prosecute individuals as a more effect deterrent.