Niederauer promoted to CEO of NYSE Euronext

ByABC News
November 15, 2007, 2:02 AM

NEW YORK -- Duncan Niederauer, the new leading man presiding over the world's most famous trading floor and first transcontinental stock exchange, is not a household name on Main Street.

Niederauer, 48, whose Wall Street pedigree includes 22 years at investment bank Goldman Sachs, has broad experience trading stocks and is a proponent of electronic trading. The ex-chief operating officer, who joined the exchange in April and was viewed as a likely successor, is now responsible for building on the massive modernization and foreign expansion the exchange has undergone under Thain, who was named CEO of Merrill Lynch Wednesday.

Wall Street analysts say the new NYSE chief has the vision, smarts and drive to continue the exchange's push to diversify its products and move into new markets.

"Duncan's a very sharp guy, a big-picture thinker who understands the constituents in the trading community," says Michael Vinciquerra at BMO Capital Markets.

"He's a doer," adds floor broker Doreen Mogavero, president and CEO of Mogavero Lee & Co. "Duncan has been very well received by the floor since the day he got here."

For the past 18 months, Niederauer has been guiding the iconic NYSE trading floor through a turbulent transition toward electronic trading. He is credited with working with securities regulators to get rule modifications that will improve the profitability of floor traders, many of whom have seen their roles and profits dwindle due to the competition from computers.

"Thain was not loved by the guys on the floor who lost their jobs due to the changes," says Patrick Healy, CEO of Issuer Advisory Group. "Niederauer has come across as the guy trying to help them out."

In the past three years, the NYSE has gone from a non-profit club dominated by floor traders to a powerful, publicly traded electronic exchange with global reach. The NYSE went public in March 2006, after buying Archipelago, a leading electronic exchange. Three months later, the NYSE merged with Euronext, a major European exchange.