Zarb

The National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. yesterday tapped Frank G. Zarb, former chairman and chief executive of Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., as its president and chief executive.The NASD's board approved Zarb's nomination Monday evening at a meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif."This appointment represents a new era for the NASD," said Daniel P. Tully, chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co., who headed the NASD search committee.Zarb replaces Joseph R. Hardiman, a former top executive at Baltimore-based Alex.

NEW YORK -- American International Group Inc. named former Citigroup President Robert B. Willumstad as chairman yesterday, completing a management overhaul prompted by probes that led to fines and restatements of results by the world's largest insurer. Willumstad, 61, becomes AIG's first permanent chairman since Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg stepped down in March 2005. Frank G. Zarb, who had been a temporary replacement, will relinquish the post Nov. 1, AIG said. "Willumstad has a great reputation," said J. Paul Newsome, an analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis who has a "buy" rating on AIG's stock.

Frank G. Zarb, chairman and chief executive of the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., told brokers here yesterday that they must pull together to rid the industry of the "bad guys.""They hurt the rest of us," said Zarb, in an off-the-cuff speech to members of the Bond Club of Baltimore at the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel.Zarb said the NASD will not tolerate brokers who break the law. Over the past year it has toughened oversight of the more than 500,000 brokers who trade securities on the Nasdaq stock market, a subsidiary of the Washington organization.

During a long career in government and private industry, Frank G. Zarb has been Mr. Fixit. Now, however, one of his major repair jobs appears to have sprung leaks. The Nasdaq stock market, following a strategy that Zarb developed in the late 1990s to try to keep it from coming apart, has rapidly lost money and market share. Amid a continued defection of customers to upstart electronic communications networks, or ECNs, Nasdaq's share of trades in its own listed stocks has fallen to 17 percent as of June from 18.7 percent in December, costing it fees.

Frank G. Zarb, former president and chairman of Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., is a leading candidate to run the National Association of Securities Dealers, according to a source close to the negotiations."

NEW YORK -- American International Group Inc. named former Citigroup President Robert B. Willumstad as chairman yesterday, completing a management overhaul prompted by probes that led to fines and restatements of results by the world's largest insurer. Willumstad, 61, becomes AIG's first permanent chairman since Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg stepped down in March 2005. Frank G. Zarb, who had been a temporary replacement, will relinquish the post Nov. 1, AIG said. "Willumstad has a great reputation," said J. Paul Newsome, an analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis who has a "buy" rating on AIG's stock.

During a long career in government and private industry, Frank G. Zarb has been Mr. Fixit. Now, however, one of his major repair jobs appears to have sprung leaks. The Nasdaq stock market, following a strategy that Zarb developed in the late 1990s to try to keep it from coming apart, has rapidly lost money and market share. Amid a continued defection of customers to upstart electronic communications networks, or ECNs, Nasdaq's share of trades in its own listed stocks has fallen to 17 percent as of June from 18.7 percent in December, costing it fees.

Frank G. Zarb, international investment banker, former U.S. energy czar and onetime gas station attendant, looks back with a touch of fondness to his first job: wiping windshields and cleaning bathrooms.That first job, fresh out of the Army, led Mr. Zarb to a position running employee training programs for the old Cities Service Oil Co. (now Citgo). And it taught him the value of mastering the basics."The dealers who checked your oil, who wiped your windshields and who had regularly clean facilities invariably did a better job [at selling oil]

WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Securities Dealers may get a recommendation to eliminate the boards of directors of its two subsidiaries in an attempt to streamline decision-making at the industry body, NASD's new top executive, Frank G. Zarb, said yesterday.That is a reversal for Zarb, who has repeatedly denied he might propose removal of the Nasdaq stock market and broker-regulatory boards.Yesterday Zarb, a former aide to Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford who has headed NASD for two months, said elimination of these boards is the most dramatic of three options he might recommend to the parent body's board June 26."

Alexander & Alexander Services Inc. yesterday named former President Gerald R. Ford to its board of directors, one of three new faces on the board of the New York-based insurance brokerage firm that has its administrative headquarters in Owings Mills.Mr. Ford, whom new Alexander & Alexander chairman Frank G. Zarb served as a deputy "energy czar" in the 1970s, will be joined on the board by New York attorney James Bickford Hurlock and Chemical Banking Corp. senior managing director Maurice H. Hartigan II.Mr.

WASHINGTON -- National Association of Securities Dealers members voted overwhelmingly yesterday to turn the Nasdaq stock market into a for-profit company. The approval by 84 percent of the NASD's member brokerages clears the way for the association to sell the Nasdaq by September. The plan seeks to raise $1.5 billion by making two private sales of Nasdaq stock and warrants to brokerages, companies and institutional investors. "The members' message is a realization that this is not only good for them but represents survival for Nasdaq," NASD and Nasdaq Chairman Frank Zarb said.

Frank G. Zarb, chairman and chief executive of the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., told brokers here yesterday that they must pull together to rid the industry of the "bad guys.""They hurt the rest of us," said Zarb, in an off-the-cuff speech to members of the Bond Club of Baltimore at the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel.Zarb said the NASD will not tolerate brokers who break the law. Over the past year it has toughened oversight of the more than 500,000 brokers who trade securities on the Nasdaq stock market, a subsidiary of the Washington organization.

WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Securities Dealers may get a recommendation to eliminate the boards of directors of its two subsidiaries in an attempt to streamline decision-making at the industry body, NASD's new top executive, Frank G. Zarb, said yesterday.That is a reversal for Zarb, who has repeatedly denied he might propose removal of the Nasdaq stock market and broker-regulatory boards.Yesterday Zarb, a former aide to Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford who has headed NASD for two months, said elimination of these boards is the most dramatic of three options he might recommend to the parent body's board June 26."

The National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. yesterday tapped Frank G. Zarb, former chairman and chief executive of Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., as its president and chief executive.The NASD's board approved Zarb's nomination Monday evening at a meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif."This appointment represents a new era for the NASD," said Daniel P. Tully, chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co., who headed the NASD search committee.Zarb replaces Joseph R. Hardiman, a former top executive at Baltimore-based Alex.

Frank G. Zarb, former president and chairman of Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., is a leading candidate to run the National Association of Securities Dealers, according to a source close to the negotiations."

WASHINGTON -- Alexander & Alexander Services Inc. President and Chairman Frank Zarb will leave the company after it merges with Aon Corp., taking at least $12 million in cash as part of his severance.The company disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that "the employment of Frank Zarb with the surviving corporation shall be terminated without cause" after the merger.Aon announced last week that it would purchase Alexander & Alexander for $1.23 billion, creating one of the nation's largest insurance brokerage companies.

Alexander & Alexander Services Inc. could be forced to pay new Chairman Frank G. Zarb as much as $20 million if management's revival plan fails to win shareholder approval.Earlier this month A&A unveiled a plan that called for it to sell $200 million worth of preferred stock -- equivalent to a 21 percent stake in the company -- to American International Group Inc. of New York and also said it would slash its dividend by 90 percent. At that time it announced it had hired Mr. Zarb as its new chief.

Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., the world's second-largest insurance broker, finished a painful year of restructuring with a loss of $111.3 million in the fourth quarter, the company announced yesterday.The loss, which amounted to $2.66 a share after the payment of preferred stock dividends, included pre-tax charges that totaled million in the quarter. The charges covered the costs of real estate consolidations, about 1,100 layoffs and various litigation settlements involving former subsidiaries.

Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., the world's second-largest insurance broker, finished a painful year of restructuring with a loss of $111.3 million in the fourth quarter, the company announced yesterday.The loss, which amounted to $2.66 a share after the payment of preferred stock dividends, included pre-tax charges that totaled million in the quarter. The charges covered the costs of real estate consolidations, about 1,100 layoffs and various litigation settlements involving former subsidiaries.

Alexander & Alexander Services Inc. yesterday named former President Gerald R. Ford to its board of directors, one of three new faces on the board of the New York-based insurance brokerage firm that has its administrative headquarters in Owings Mills.Mr. Ford, whom new Alexander & Alexander chairman Frank G. Zarb served as a deputy "energy czar" in the 1970s, will be joined on the board by New York attorney James Bickford Hurlock and Chemical Banking Corp. senior managing director Maurice H. Hartigan II.Mr.