NYSE Euronext’s Alan van Griethuysen, business head of the Benelux region and Asia, has left the exchange after 33 years amid a review of operations.
Van Griethuysen joined the European Options Exchange in 1979. That company merged with the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and was in turn acquired by Euronext NV. Based in Amsterdam, he represented NYSE Euronext on the board of the Dutch Securities Institute, the Association of Futures Markets and on a fund that helped retail investors in the event of a broker default.
“I’m taking some time off first before looking for new opportunities,” Van Griethuysen, whose hobbies include sailing and mountain biking, said today in an interview in Interlaken, Switzerland, at the SFOA’s annual conference for derivatives exchanges and regulators. “I’ve spent the bulk of my career in financial services, so that’s where I’ll look first.”
NYSE Euronext, operator of the New York Stock Exchange, stock markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Brussels and the Liffederivatives exchange, is restructuring after more than a year’s work on a failed merger with Deutsche Boerse AG. The company in May announced the departure of Garry Jones, head of global derivatives at NYSE Euronext and chief executive officer of Liffe.
Van Griethuysen leaves as NYSE Euronext confronts increasing competition in stocks and derivatives. Alternative trading systems such as Bats Chi-X Europe Ltd., which have already taken market share in equities trading, are seeking to get into derivatives.
Growing Rivalry
CME Group Inc., owner of the world’s biggest futures exchange, plans a derivatives market in London by the middle of 2013, setting up in competition with Liffe. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. equity-exchange operator, plans to start an interest-ratederivatives trading platform in the U.K., and London Stock Exchange Group Plc is seeking to expand the business after purchasing a stake in LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd.
On Aug. 3, NYSE Euronext, the biggest U.S. exchange operator, reported second-quarter profit excluding some items fell to 51 cents a share, compared with 61 cents a year earlier as equity and derivatives trading dropped.
NYSE executives meeting with shareholders on April 2 pledged $250 million in annual savings by the end of 2014 and said a stock buyback will be completed this year. NYSE also said “Project 14,” a program aimed at generating more savings, will generate about $90 million from technology and “organizational efficiency” savings.