Will Bear Stearns' Cayne, who resigned as CEO, Stay as Non-Exec Chair?

Jimmy Cayne has told the board of Bear Stearns that he plans to step down as chief executive of the Wall Street bank, which has suffered heavy losses in the credit market turmoil.

Cayne hopes to remain as non-executive chairman and hand over the chief executive role to Alan Schwartz, Bear’s president. Bear Stearns directors are expected to meet soon to discuss the matter and an announcement could reportedly come as soon as today.

Cayne is the latest casualty of the credit squeeze which has seen the exit of chief executives such as Peter Wuffli at UBS, Chuck Prince at Citigroup and Stan O’Neal at Merrill Lynch.