Xavier Rolet to step down as boss of London Stock Exchange next year

Xavier Rolet
Xavier Rolet took up the top job at LSEG in 2009

Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, is to leave the group next December after almost a decade at the helm. 

Shareholders expressed disappointment after it emerged that Mr Rolet, a popular City figure who has transformed the business since joining in May 2009, had decided to step down - triggering an immediate search for his successor. The firm's market capitalisation has swelled from £800m since he joined to almost £14bn today. 

"Clearly myself and other shareholders are disappointed with the news," said Aviva Investors' head of UK equities Trevor Green, who has been an investor in the group throughout Mr Rolet's tenure. "I want this to be sorted within six months, not 12. We've got the right chairman on the case here - people around the world will answer the phone to Donald Brydon." 

Mr Rolet, who will be leaving the exchange three months before the UK leaves the EU, was planning to retire if the £24bn merger with Deutsche Boerse went through. After the deal collapsed, investors urged him to stay.

He told The Sunday Telegraph in June that he "cannot imagine any sort of challenge that would compare to this one" but added that he did not know what the future held. 

Mr Green said he would like the new boss to have strong international and M&A experience, akin to Mr Rolet's background - the Frenchman started his career as a trader at Goldman Sachs in New York, and joined the British bourse from Lehman Brothers. 

Under his stewardship the group embarked on a string of acquisitions, although the failed tie-up with the German exchange would have been its biggest. The deal was blocked by the European Commission for competition reasons in March, ending almost a year of work and the pair's third formal attempt at a merger since 2000.

However M&A is likely to remain a key part of the exchange's strategy when Mr Rolet leaves, especially as the market is racing to bulk up. Lou Eccleston, the boss of Toronto Stock Exchange owner TMX Group  - whose own merger with the UK exchange was aborted in 2011 - told The Telegraph in June that exchanges now "have to go after a global business". 

Mr Rolet's replacement will also have to steer the exchange through Brexit. Mr Rolet has been a fierce critic of Brexit and warned last year that it could lead to the "implosion" of the continental bloc. He wrote in The Telegraph this week that France and Germany risk starting a new financial crisis if they try to dismantle London's status as a global finance hub post-Brexit. 

Shares in the group dipped on the news of his exit, which overshadowed a strong set of third-quarter results from the company. Revenues rose 18pc to £443m for the three months to September, with particularly strong growth in its clearing division. 

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