Former Nasdaq CFO David Warren has been named finance chief of London Stock Exchange Group. He replaces the LSEG’s current CFO, Doug Webb, who leaves “to pursue other interests,” the group said in a statement.
Warren, who will be responsible for financial management, investor relations, and property and facilities operations, joins the group on July 2. From 2001 until 2009, he was CFO of Nasdaq, the U.S.-based exchange operator now known as Nasdaq OMX as a result of its acquisition of the Swedish group OMX in 2007.
The CFO reshuffle comes as the LSEG has been expanding on a number of fronts. It is currently trying to acquire a majority stake in the privately owned LCH.Clearnet clearinghouse, to which the London Stock Exchange currently outsources its U.K. equities clearing. Since 2008 the LSEG has owned the Italian stock exchange, Borsa Italia, and its clearing house. And in December, the LSEG acquired the outstanding 50% stake in FTSE International, which was a joint venture with Pearson, owner of The Financial Times. The LSEG’s 2011 attempt to acquire TMX Group, operator of the Toronto stock exchange, was not successful.
Since 2009 Warren has been chief commercial lending officer of Lake Shore Bancorp in Dunkirk, New York. For the past year he has also been a special adviser to Nasdaq OMX chief executive officer Robert Greifeld. Before joining Nasdaq, Warren was CFO of the Long Island Power Authority for three years. He has also been deputy treasurer of the State of Connecticut and a vice president at CS First Boston.
Warren’s salary at the LSEG hasn’t been revealed. For the year ending March 31, 2011, Webb’s salary was £330,000 (currently about $514,000), and he received a performance-related bonus of £450,000 (now about $701,000). Since May 2010, he has also served as a nonexecutive director and audit-committee chairman of SEGRO plc, a London-based industrial real estate investment trust.
In its statement, the LSEG, which itself is listed on the London Stock Exchange, paid tribute to Webb’s “strong risk and balance sheet management,” while welcoming Warren’s “considerable financial sector and exchange experience [which] will be invaluable to the organization as we continue to pursue our strategic growth ambitions.”
Andrew Sawers is editor of CFO European Briefing, a CFO online publication.
