The New York Stock Exchange is facing calls for the complete separation of its regulatory arm as part of its proposal to become a publicly held, for-profit company.

Some large users of the exchange are critical of the plan for the business of the exchange and the regulatory arm to have common directors. They believe it should follow the model set by the Nasdaq stock market. When it became a public company, the Nasdaq was completely separated from the NASD, the self-regulatory body that originally owned it.