New York, Sept 20: The New York Stock Exchange on Friday selected a large group of directors to pick an interim chairman to succeed Richard Grasso, fueling criticism that the world's largest stock exchange has not reached out enough to set a clear course for righting its troubled ship. Establishing this committee is only a small step in finding a replacement for Grasso, who quit on Wednesday amid a furor over his $140 million payout, as the search is only for a temporary fix, while larger structural and governance questions remain.

The Big Board has yet to decide whether to split the chairman and chief executive jobs, both of which Grasso held, and until that is done, a long-term solution remains out of reach.
Asset management firm BlackRock Inc.'s Chairman Laurence Fink was picked to lead the search, the exchange said shortly after Friday's two-hour board meeting.
With Fink, the committee consists of about a third of the overall board, including co-chief operating officers Robert Britz and Catherine Kinney. Absent from the group are several board members -- including Henry Paulson, William Harrison and Philip Purcell -- considered key to the call for Grasso's removal.
But some hoped the board would reach outside its ranks for search committee members instead of from within. Bureau Report