Internal Memo On Redpath's Return

LONDON--Following last week's story on Alan Redpath's return to London to head Standard & Poor's information business in Europe (IMD, Aug. 9), Inside Market Data obtained a copy of the memo distributed internally at S&P (see below).

In planning for the future expansion of Standard & Poor's, all of our business units are placing the highest priority on the opportunities created by Europe's fast-changing financial market. Europe's monetary integration is coinciding with a rapid build-up of private sector savings and the adoption of a region-wide framework by many European investors and financial intermediaries. This wholesale transformation in European financial markets is creating a unique opportunity for the information products and analytical services, which are at the core of the Standard & Poor's franchise.

To accelerate Standard & Poor's pursuit of the opportunities created by Europe's financial transformation, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Alan Redpath as executive managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Alan will have three critical accountabilities. First, he will lead our efforts to grow revenues and earnings from information services targeted at European investors and capital markets. Second, Alan will also assume the leadership role in identifying internal and external resources and capabilities which can be leveraged for all of Standard & Poor's. He will assemble and chair a European executive committee to help achieve the goal of maximizing the growth potential of Standard & Poor's in the region. Third, he will provide additional leadership to the expansion of the Standard & Poor's franchise in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, leveraging off the strong position already built across those territories by Ratings Services.

The European heads of the Information Services business units will report to Alan. Also accountable to Alan on the European development initiative will be Francois Veverka, head of Ratings Services in Europe, and George Dallas, head of Ratings Services in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. (Both Francois and George report within the Ratings Services organization to Vickie Tillman, Executive Vice President.)

Alan joined Standard & Poor's ten years ago as European regional manager of MMS, a business that had just been acquired at the time. Alan became the President of MMS in 1992 and moved to the US that year to accelerate its integration into Standard & Poor's. He became head of the Sales & Trading business unit when it was created in 1997 and has overseen the successful launch of Global Markets Live, Power Markets Daily, Blue List.com and a variety of other electronic information services. He graduated from Grosvenor College, Belfast.

Alan will be based in London and reports to Hendrik J. Kranenburg, Executive Vice President.

Please join me in wishing him every success in this important new position in the evolution of Standard & Poor's global franchise.