Forced by his superiors to resign as head of equities and derivatives last January following the €4.9 billion ($7.1 billion) unauthorized-trading scandal at Société Générale, Luc François becomes the first head of global equity derivatives at Morgan Stanley this month. He is charged with boosting investment and hiring to turn Morgan from a second-tier player into an international powerhouse in equity derivatives. “Our aim is to be a top three player globally, and Luc will help us achieve that goal,” says Fabrizio Gallo, Morgan Stanley’s New York–based global head of equities. During his 21-year career at SocGen, François was one of a handful of executives who built the bank into the world’s largest equity derivatives trader. He says the massive blunder that occurred on his watch there taught him an important lesson. “We paid too much attention verifying that process was being followed without sufficient checks to see whether the system malfunctioned,” says François, 46. “Now I’ll put a lot more emphasis on prevention.” Morgan Stanley is counting on it.
