Finra taps NYSE reg head Ketchum as chief

NYSE regulatory chief Richard Ketchum will be named the new chief executive of Finra, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Finra spokesman Herb Perone would not confirm the report, and a spokesman for NYSE Regulation Inc., of which Mr. Ketchum is currently chief executive, could not be reached for comment. Mr. Ketchum would succeed Mary Schapiro, who became chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in January. He has been chief executive officer of NYSE Regulation since 2006. NYSE Regulation is the regulatory arm of NYSE Euronext of New York. In addition to heading regulation for NYSE, Mr. Ketchum is non-executive chairman of Finra, and he has served as president of both the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc of New York and NASD, which merged with the regulatory arm of the former New York Stock Exchange to form Finra. Prior to working at NASD and Nasdaq, Mr. Ketchum spent 14 years at the SEC, where for eight years he was director of the division of market regulation, now the division of trading and markets. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. is based in Washington and New York. Investment News first reported that Mr. Ketchum was a frontrunner for the position Jan. 29 ("Rumors fly over who’ll be next Finra CEO" ).