The London Stock Exchange decided to swap a Dutchwoman for a Frenchman as its chief executive on Friday, appointing Xavier Rolet, a former senior executive at collapsed US bank Lehman Brothers. The LSE was fulsome in praise of outgoing chief executive Clara Furse who will leave in May, but press comment said that the stock exchange had lost ground during the eight years of her leadership. “We are delighted to be appointing Xavier as the group's next chief executive,” the chairman of the LSE, the biggest European stock market, Chris Gibson-Smith, said in a statement. Furse, who had been expected to step down, fended off a series of takeover approaches for the London Stock Exchange during her time at the top, before agreeing to a merger with the Italian stock market in 2007. “We are very grateful to Clara for all she has delivered to the group,” said Gibson-Smith. “In her eight years at the helm, she brought the Exchange to the public markets, transformed the scale of the business and its international reputation, and most recently led the merger with Borsa Italiana,” added the LSE chairman. Furse ranks among a small band of women who have managed to lead a listed British company and is the LSE's first female chief executive. But the Financial Times commented on Friday that under Furse, the LSE had “lost ground to global rivals in building a diverse exchange business.” The respected business daily added: “The LSE faces the most serious challenge to its business in decades, amid a collapse in the value of stocks traded, competition from upstart equities trading platforms... and threats to its lucrative market data services.” Rolet, 49, has spent the past 25 years working for a number of major financial institutions, the LSE said on Friday. The Frenchman will join the LSE board on March 16 prior to replacing Furse on May 20. “I am very excited to be joining London Stock Exchange Group,” Rolet said. “It is a great company, drawing from a rich pool of talented employees. Its strategic position is unique, and its business prospects are excellent. “I look forward to contributing to its continued success and to developing further, in Clara's footsteps, the potential of this great international franchise,” he added. The share price of the LSE jumped 5.59 percent to 496.25 pencent following news of Rolet's appointment.
