Most worryingly, the members of the compensation committee that set pay levels for executives of the NYSE are leaders of companies subject to its regulatory powers.Alan Hevesim the New York State Comptroller, noted: "The issue is not just Mr Grasso. The SEC, reacting to Mr Grasso's resignation, has signalled it expects a shake-up of exchange structures sooner rather than later.Laura Cox, external affairs manager at the commission, said: "The SEC will continue its review of governance standards and will work closely with the new leadership at the exchange to put an appropriate structure in place that will ensure the credibility and integrity of the governance of the exchange."Among the issues is one that was vividly highlighted by the Grasso d?cle. In February, he ordered the creation of a committee to study governance issues.In March, Mr Donaldson upped the ante, formally urging the NYSE to embark on an overhaul of its structures. Regulators killed the appointment, pointing out that Citigroup had only just been forced to settle conflict of interest violations with the government. Mr Grasso had, in fact, started to take some action on reform. Its reputation for sagacity was hardly helped in March when it tried to attach Sandy Weil, the departing chairman of Citigroup, to its board. Reports of a wild pay deal for Mr Grasso were circulating long before last month's public disclosure.

Naturally, many in the building were asking if the increased charges were really to pay for his lavish lifestyle. The seeds of rebellion were sown.The NYSE has been dealing with a string of problems all year. Where was the accountability, of him and of the board? It hardly helped that earlier this year, the exchange significantly increased the fees it charged traders on its floor, ostensibly to pay for new technology. No one now expects the flap at the exchange to end with the exit of Mr Grasso The NYSE now faces a whole myriad of additional questions. How can investor confidence in the institution be restored? What reforms need to be instigated to improve its governance? And, not least, who will now be chosen to lead it into its uncertain future? Worries about the manner in which the NYSE ran itself were percolating long before the Grasso pay scandal erupted. Critics early this year began to complain that it was a cosy cabal of elite Wall Street shakers on the puppet strings of Mr Grasso. An era had closed for the exchange and emotions were running high.But more importantly, a new era was just beginning.

Yesterday, the opening bell sounded and Mr Grasso was absent from the balcony overlooking the buzzing floor. Then, on 9 September, the NYSE revealed that Mr Grasso, 57, was in fact set to get $48m more. He then agreed to forego that extra amount but it was a gesture too feeble to save him.The guillotine dropped on Mr Grasso, who joined the exchange as a clerk on $82.50 a week in 1968, on Wednesday during an emergency telephone conference meeting of the NYSE's board of directors. He gets $142,500 a year. It was even more unconscionable than it originally appeared. Under pressure to demonstrate transparency, the NYSE disclosed the extent of the package on 27 August.

Compare it also to the annual salary of his predecessor and current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson. Where were the wise minds of Wall Street when the compensation committee of the New York Stock Exchange agreed to hand no less than $140m (£88m) to the institution's fabled leader, Dick Grasso, as part of a deal to extend his contract until 2007? Why didn't someone say, wait a minute? With a package like that - admittedly most of it consisting of deferred payments from pension benefits and savings accumulations - Mr Grasso was set to rake in more than the heads of almost every major brokerage house in the business. Mr Garnier could build on his success by creating yet more centres. The sceptics will wait to see the clinical data before believing he's cracked it. But with GSK shares still trading at a substantial discount to their peers, even an average-looking pipeline could generate a sustained rally.A severe gale is still blowing outside, but it looks as if Glaxo may have bypassed the perfect storm.jeremy.warner independent.co.uk. Mr Garnier desperately needs this to happen, since it was one of the primary justifications for the merger.By making the centres compete for resource from the mothership, Mr Garnier has succeeded in creating the entrepreneurial environment the vast bureaucracy merger risked stifling.