NYSE Chief Steps Down

Niederauer will leave three months ahead of his scheduled departure date. He has been replaced with immediate effect as the head of NYSE by Thomas Farley, currently COO, who takes on the role of CEO and president. Niederauer will remain as co-president of ICE, which announced plans to acquire NYSE Euronext at the tail end of 2012, until August.

Having been at the head of the world's largest exchange since 2007, when it merged with Euronext, Niederaruer spent a large part of his career at Goldman Sachs, and was at the forefront of its decision to purchase Spears, Leeds and Kellogg (SLK) in 2000. Goldman finalized the sale of its designated market maker unit on the NYSE floor, inherited from SLK, to high-speed trading firm IMC Financial Markets this week, following other major investment banks in leaving the exchange floor.

While ICE is retaining NYSE as an integral part of its business, as well as its London-based derivatives venue Liffe, it is mulling avenues to spin off the Euronext component, which comprises a number of European exchanges.