Alastair Cooper, managing director and head of equity derivatives sales at Morgan Stanley in London, has left the firm. Cooper has been replaced by Tom Levy, head of program trading, according to Andrea Bothamley, spokeswoman. Levy, who will keep his previous responsibilities, did not return calls.
Cooper, who could not be reached, retired from derivatives and has taken up farming, according to a headhunter.
One global head of equity derivatives speculated that the change is part of a restructuring of the firm's European equity derivatives business, which he said is weaker than its U.S. counterpart. Guru Ranakrishnan, head of global equity derivatives in New York, referred comment on this point to Bothamley, who declined comment.
