By Myles Neligan
LONDON (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange
Rolet, previously head of Lehman Brothers in France, takes up his new role on May 20, succeeding Clara Furse, the first woman to lead the centuries-old bourse, who steps down after eight years, the LSE said on Friday.
Rolet established strong links with the LSE during a nine-year career at Lehman, where he held roles including head of European and Asian equities. Lehman Brothers was the LSE's biggest customer until the U.S. investment bank collapsed in September last year.
Rolet has also held senior positions in the equity divisions of Dresdner Kleinwort, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs.
His appointment confirmed a February 5 Reuters report naming him as the frontrunner to succeed Furse.
"I'm very excited to be here, and look at the LSE group's business opportunities as seminal," Rolet told Reuters in an interview.
By 1210 GMT (7:10 a.m. EST), shares in the LSE were up 5.5 percent at 496 pence.
COMPETITIVE THREATS
The 49-year-old Frenchman takes over the top job at a time when increasingly fierce competition from new trading platforms such as Turquoise and Chi-X is forcing the LSE to trim its trading fees, eroding revenues.
Further revenue pressure stems from falling share prices, which reduce average transaction values, while analysts say the LSE also needs to reduce its dependence on cash equities markets by expanding into derivatives.
"As alternative venues continue to bite in little chunks at the LSE's cake, (Rolet's) challenge will be to make the LSE not just mean, but lean and nimble enough to face price erosion and the challenge of innovating faster," said Cubillas Ding, an analyst at financial research firm Celent.
"One of the positive aspects is that Rolet, being ex-Lehman, has the lens of a customer. This will provide a fresh new perspective."
During her time as chief executive, Clara Furse aggressively defended the LSE's independence as the global exchange industry underwent a wave of consolidation, fending off takeover bids from rivals Deutsche Boerse
Analysts at Oriel Securities said Rolet was likely to pursue the same strategy.
"Furse successfully defended the LSE from takeover and that is not going to change," they wrote in a note.
Furse, initially criticised for losing out to European rival Euronext in the race to buy London-based derivatives exchange Liffe, later won plaudits from investors as the intense takeover interest helped propel the LSE's share price to a peak of more than 1,700 pence in February last year.
Furse is to remain as a director of the company until July this year.
(Additional reporting by Daisy Ku and Douwe Miedema)
