Goldman president Thain to head NYSE in reform move

The New York Stock Exchange ushered in a new era of-reform yesterday after one of the worst crises in its 211-year history with the appointment of John Thain, president of Goldman Sachs, as chief executive.
Mr Thain, 48, will start on January 15 as head of the world's largest stock exchange, succeeding John Reed, its interim chairman and chief executive, who will now become non-executive chairman until a new chairman is chosen.
Mr Thain said he had not yet drawn up a specific agenda but he is expected to implement
wide-ranging reforms. A priority will be to address criticism of the specialist system, in which buy and sell orders are matched by a select group of traders.
Critics have said that specialists have abused their privileged position, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible trading violations.
Mr Thain also said he expected more trades to be executed electronically in the future.
Mr Reed called Mr Thain "unusually able" and said he brought the NYSE "integrity, intelligence and extensive knowledge of the financial markets".
The appointment brings closer a swift transition following the
controversial dismissal of Richard Grasso as chairman and CEO in mid-September after a furore over his $187.5m (£106.4m) pay package.
The appointment led to a reordering of executives at Goldman, which named star bond trader Lloyd Blankfein as president and chief operating officer, making him the heir apparent to Hank Paulson, the chairman and chief executive. However, Mr Paulson, 57, is seen as unlikely to leave Goldman soon, which was one of the reasons that Mr Thain gave for taking the NYSE job.
Mr Thain will be paid a total of $4m per year, including bonuses, and will not have a contract for a predetermined period. Mr Reed
said Mr Thain "will not take part in any strange retirement plans". The package was "plain vanilla compensation".
The NYSE board will next month decide how to deal with Mr Thain's holdings of Goldman Sachs stock in order to insulate him from accusations of conflicts of interest.
The NYSE announced it would split the chairman and CEO roles two days ago at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose chairman, William Donaldson, welcomed Mr Thain's appointment