Nasdaq names Cohen and Griggs as co-presidents

Nasdaq on Friday said its board appointed Tal Cohen and Nelson Griggs as co-presidents, formalising the corporate structure the transatlantic exchange operator recently put in place to boost its efforts in major growth areas, like anti-financial crime software.

With the appointments, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, who was also appointed chair of the New York-based company’s board on December 19, gave up the role as president, the company said.

“Tal and Nelson will focus on unlocking the value of Nasdaq’s new organisational structure while working closely with Nasdaq chair and CEO, Adena T. Friedman, on advancing key strategic priorities,” the company said in a statement to Reuters.

Nasdaq reorganised its business units in September 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.

The anti-financial crime service was bolstered by Nasdaq’s recent $2.75bn (R50bn) acquisition of fraud detection firm Verafin.

Cohen, 50, heads the market platforms unit, while Griggs, 52, leads the capital access platforms division. The anti-financial crime unit is headed by Nasdaq executive vice-president Jamie King.

Nasdaq on Wednesday reported first-quarter profits that beat Wall Street estimates, as demand for its anti-financial crime software helped offset a hit to its indexing business and a slump in initial public offerings.

Reuters