New York, Sept 22: The New York Stock Exchange chose former Citigroup chairman and CEO John S. Reed as its interim leader, less than a week after its previous chairman was forced to step down amid outrage about his compensation. Reed, 64, who left Citi in 2000 after losing a power struggle with then co-chairman Sanford I. Weill, will temporarily replace Dick Grasso, exchange officials announced at a hastily called news conference.
In a phone conference from France, where he was vacationing, Reed said yesterday there had been some failures in corporate governance at the exchange and he would make the issue a priority.
"I have seen crises quite comparable to what the NYSE has gone through ... And clearly it did not help anyone," Reed said.
He declined to comment on Grasso or the circumstances of Grasso's departure but said he realized the gravity of the situation.
Grasso's pay package of USD 187.5 million was considered excessive by many on and off Wall Street.
Reed, who said he will be paid USD one for his work, will start at the exchange as interim chairman on Sept. 30, but he said he plans to start talking to other NYSE executives today.
He said that he hopes to have a permanent NYSE head in "months, and not years" and that he is not a candidate for the permanent job. A search committee led by Laurence Fink, CEO of investment group Blackrock Inc., will look for a permanent replacement for Grasso. Bureau Report