73-year-old Jimmy Cayne, currently CEO of Bear Stearns, is set to be replaced by Alan Schwartz, who is currently Bear Stearns’ president.
Cayne explained to the bank’s board that he wishes to stay on as non-executive chairman and Bear Stearns directors are to decide as to whether this possibility is feasible.
Bear Stearns announced fourth-quarter losses of $850 million in December 2007 after the bank was forced to write down $1.9 billion on mortgage-related assets.
As a result of the losses, Cayne forfeited his annual bonus, but experts expect more losses to be made. Shares in Bear Stearns dropped 14% in value over the past week and halved their worth over the past year. Cayne has been with Bear Stearns for 14 years and replaced Warren Spector as CEO.
Other top bosses to recently leave their positions due to the credit crisis include Peter Wuffli at UBS and Chuck Prince at Citigroup.