(September 18) – “For the fourth time in a decade, the London Stock Exchange is searching for a new chief executive officer,” writes Silvia Ascarelli in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“A day after shareholders nearly voted him out of office during a tense annual meeting, Gavin Casey resigned Friday as CEO of Europe’s largest bourse, creating a leadership vacuum at a critical time, with the LSE facing a hostile takeover bid from OM Gruppen AB of Sweden.”

“Given the difficulty that CEOs have had in holding what has often been a thankless post, finding a successor is likely to be tricky. The job will require someone able to fathom the rapid transformation of Europe’s stock exchanges from clubby institutions into profit-driven companies needing sophisticated technology and marketing skill to compete with new electronic exchanges. That transformation has led to a feverish mating dance among national bourses, aimed at creating a pan-European market and lowering trading costs. It also has opened the way for the brash takeover bid from OM, which operates financial markets and supplies trading technology.”

“The new CEO also will have to please two types of LSE shareholders with differing priorities: the smaller British stockbrokers catering mostly to individual investors, and the international giants, such as Merrill Lynch & Co. Mr. Casey drew the ire of the smaller brokers partly because he pushed for a merger with Deutsche Boerse AG to create a market called iX. In the face of strong opposition from the smaller brokers and some large ones, the LSE last week ditched the iX plan. Many small brokers believed iX would mainly benefit the big international investment banks.”

“Moreover, the job is unlikely to offer the sort of pay package that would tempt high-powered bankers or brokers. Mr. Casey, a devotee of horse racing and grouse hunting, earned 340,000 pounds ($474,400 or 555,374 euros) in salary in the year ended March 31, plus a 275,000 pound bonus. Mr. Casey’s severance package is of a similar size, according to people familiar with the matter.”

” ‘It’ll be the more the quality of the challenge than it would be just the total remuneration’ that attracts someone to the job, said John Viney, European chairman of the recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles International.”

“Only a few names are being ban died about as possible successors for Mr. Casey, who took over four years ago after serving as chief operating officer of Smith New Court, a U.K. securities firm acquired by Merrill Lynch. Among them are Brian Williamson, who revived the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and Pen Kent, a former Bank of England official.”