James ‘Jimmy’ Cayne has told the board of Bear Stearns that he plans to step down as chief executive of the Wall Street bank, following heavy losses in the subprime mortgage market.
Mr. Cayne who has run the company, the fifth largest securities firm in the U.S, for 14 years, is expected to remain as non-executive chairman and hand over the chief executive role to Alan Schwartz, Bear’s president.
Following the departure of Warren Spector, co-president and head of the Bear’s its securities operations in August; Mr. Schwartz has been widely seen as Mr. Cayne’s likely successor.
Banking departures
Last month, the investment bank unveiled fourth-quarter losses of $850 million after a $1.9 billion writedown of the value of mortgage-related assets.
Mr Cayne is the chief executive to step down following the turmoil in the credit market which has seen the departure of chief executives such as Peter Wuffli at UBS, Chuck Prince at Citigroup and Stan O’Neal at Merrill Lynch.
Cayne is thought to have told board members at a meeting in December that he was considering stepping down.
January 08, 2008