NEW YORK (AP) - Bear Stearns Cos. co-President and co-Chief Operating Officer Warren Spector resigned Sunday at a meeting of the firm's board of directors, according to a published report.
Alan Schwartz, Bear Stearns' other co-president and co-COO, will become the sole president, and Samuel Molinaro, the firm's longtime chief financial officer, will assume the role of chief operating officer, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter. Jeffrey Mayer, who is co-head of fixed income, will take Spector's seat on the executive committee, the report said.
Bear Stearns representatives did not immediately return telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Spector, 49, has spent his entire career at Bear Stearns since joining the firm as a trader in 1983. He has been considered a likely successor to Chief Executive James Cayne, 73.
But the meltdown of two hedge funds at Bear Stearns Asset Management, a unit Spector oversaw, have put him and the firm under pressure. The hedge funds filed for bankruptcy protection last week because of their exposure to wrong-way bets on securities backed by mortgages for people with less than stellar credit.
On Friday, Standard & Poors said it was considering cutting its rating on Bear Stearns' creditworthiness because of the firm's exposure to the distressed mortgage and corporate buyout markets.
Separately, another ratings agency, Fitch Ratings, downgraded $46.4 million worth of Bear Stearns bonds backed by subprime mortgages, or home loans to people with spotty credit histories.
The news sent the Wall Street brokerage's shares tumbling to their lowest price since November 2005. The shares, which have lost nearly one-third of their value this year, fell $7.28, or 6.3 percent, to close Friday at $108.35.
Bear Stearns has said the problems with the hedge funds were isolated incidents and 'by no means an indication of broader issues at Bear Stearns.'
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