Financial News: LSE’s Xavier Rolet to step down as CEO

Xavier Rolet will step down as chief executive of the London Stock Exchange in 2018 after almost a decade leading the iconic British institution.

Rolet was set to stand down after the completion of the LSE’s

LSE, -0.61%

 merger with German rival Deutsche Börse

DB1, -1.62%

 , but that deal was ultimately torpedoed by European regulators in March this year.

Rolet said in a statement today: “I am extremely proud of all we have done together in just under a decade to turn LSEG into a truly global financial market infrastructure group.”

He will remain with the exchange until a successor is found, the group’s chairman Donald Brydon confirmed in a statement.

Rolet, a former equities trader at Lehman Brothers, succeeded Dame Clara Furse as CEO of the LSE in 2009. In the years since, the 57-year-old has taken the business beyond its roots in stock trading and helped turn it into a post-trade and information powerhouse.

Landmark acquisitions made on his watch have included the purchases of information technology firm MillenniumIT, the clearing giant LCH, the equities trading platform Turqiouse, index provider FTSE Group, and index and fund management business Frank Russell Co.

But Rolet has also seen failed attempts to complete landmark mergers with rival exchanges during his time in charge. In 2012, the LSE fell short with efforts to tie-up with Canada’s TMX Group

X, +0.03%

 and, more recently, plans for a roughly £24 billion ($31.7 billion) tie-up with Deutsche Börse were scuppered by EU competition watchdogs.

The deal was intended to create a European exchange and clearing giant, with Rolet handing over control of the combined group to his opposite number at Deutsche Börse, Carsten Kengeter.

This report first appeared on Financial News

Also see: UBS says attention from regulators is good for ETFs