All Change, Please, All Change

I'm starting to lose track of who is where after the past few weeks. Marking the passage of people in and out of various companies makes for dry writing as a reporter, but it's a necessary part of trying to keep on top of constantly-moving pieces around the C-level area of major exchanges, banks and vendors. It's also a bit easier than a spider diagram, and probably more useful.

If you'll remember, a few weeks ago, we had Steve Rubinow leave NYSE Euronext for FXall, and Commerzbank's Peter Leukert taking his place as CIO. Now the Big Board is losing Stanley Young from its NYSE Technologies division as he heads to Bloomberg. My colleagues Anthony Malakian and Vicki Chan have done a better job of covering this than I can in a 500-word editor's letter, so I'd highly suggest reading through their piece.

What this means for NYSE Euronext is uncertain at the moment. Their renewed focus, following the blocked merger with Deutsche Börse, has been on technology, which has been a decent earner for them. They've recently expanded their cloud platform into Europe, and their co-location services are reaping benefits. Young's departure was sudden, and stiffly noted in a wonderfully subtextual five-line press release from the company, thanking him for his service. One imagines that Mayor Michael won't be getting a Christmas card this year. The hunt for a successor begins now, although I can't imagine there's a shortage of candidates keen for the job. NYSE has also lost its global head of derivatives, Garry Jones, who stepped down as part of a major reshuffle.

Speaking of all things Allemagne, we have the news that Josef Ackermann is to hand over the wheel at Deutsche Bank to two of his lieutenants. Anshu Jain, its investment commandant, will run the bank in tandem with Jurgen Fitschen. Deutsche has made a lot of its money from its dealing activities over the past few years, despite its renewed public focus on the retail sector, so it makes sense to put someone with that nous at the top. But, if you believe this will go unremarked in the tabloids, then I've heard that JPMorgan has some derivatives they'd love to sell you.

The use of two people at the top highlights the dual character of Deutsche as a commercial venture, and part of the fabric of German culture. The New York Times examines this brilliantly in a Dealbook article filed yesterday. It also seals what was reportedly quite an ugly succession process at the highest levels.

Deutsche has made a lot of its money from its dealing activities over the past few years, despite its renewed public focus on the retail sector, so it makes sense to put someone with that nous at the top.

Jubilee
You may also notice a slight drop-off in the volume of content over the next few days, as our London office is being given an extra public holiday to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee this weekend. Pimm's, cucumber sandwiches, and a slightly self-conscious outburst of patriotic fervor will be gripping the country over the next few days, people choking the capital. And the Thames, come to think about it, given the planned flotilla of a thousand ships due to sail its murky length on Sunday. Let nobody say that the British can't do pomp and extravagant ceremony well; it's the one time our natural inclination towards thundering anachronisms actually works in our favour. Either way, we'll be back in on Wednesday, so thanks, Liz.

As always, any thoughts, comments or conversation can be directed towards me at +44207 316 9811 or through e-mail on james.rundle@incisivemedia.com.