Wall Street investment bank and brokerage Bear Stearns overhauled its top management ranks at the weekend, but its shares continued to fall Monday amid concerns about its exposure to mortgage-related securities.
The bank’s president and co-chief operating office Warren Spector announced his resignation from Bear Stearns on Sunday as the bank said it had appointed company veteran Alan Schwartz as its sole president.
Samuel Molinaro, Bear Stearns chief financial officer, will take over the chief operating officer’s role while another executive, Jeffrey Mayer, will take Spector’s seat on the firm’s executive committee.
Bear Stearns, which traces its history to 1923, has endured a couple of difficult months.
The firm told investors in June that “challenging market conditions” roiling the US housing market had contributed to a hefty 21 percent drop in its fixed income revenues during the second quarter to 962 million dollars.
The problems forced it to wind down two hedge funds it had managed which had been heavily invested in complex mortgage-related securities.