Exclusive-Nasdaq prepares to name Sarah Youngwood as new CFO -sources

By David French and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Exchange operator Nasdaq Inc is preparing to name former UBS Group AG executive Sarah Youngwood as its new chief financial officer, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Nasdaq’s current CFO Ann Dennison is expected to step down from her role, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is confidential. Youngwood’s appointment is expected to be announced in the coming days, the sources said.

Nasdaq did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Youngwood and Dennison were not immediately available for comment.

Youngwood, who has joint French-U.S. citizenship, was named group CFO at UBS in December 2021 and started in the role in May 2022.

Earlier this year, UBS said that Youngwood would leave the company as part of the management changes linked to the integration of Credit Suisse, which it agreed to buy as part of a shotgun merger engineered by Swiss authorities.

Prior to her role at the Swiss bank, Youngwood had been at JPMorgan Chase & Co, serving as the financial chief of its Consumer & Community Banking line of business. At JPMorgan, Youngwood held a variety of roles during her 25-year stint at the bank, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Dennison joined Nasdaq in 2015 as chief accounting officer and was elevated to CFO in March 2021. Prior to joining the exchange operator, Dennison was at Goldman Sachs Group for 19 years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Earlier this year, Nasdaq appointed Tal Cohen and Nelson Griggs each as presidents, formalizing the corporate structure the company put in place to boost its efforts in major growth areas, like anti-financial crime software.

Last year, Nasdaq reorganized its business units into three divisions: market platforms, which include North American and European exchange services, market technology, digital assets and carbon markets; capital access platforms, which includes indexes, data, and listings; and anti-financial crime.

(Reporting by David French and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ7S0PZ-VIEWIMAGE