The chief executive of AllianceBernstein, a US asset management group that runs money for some of Europe's biggest pension funds, is retiring from the company, which is still reeling from investment losses after investing in eye-catchingly cheap financial stocks and finding itself the largest shareholder of collapsed Lehman Brothers.

Lew Sanders, 62, will be succeeded by Peter Kraus, who will join the firm from Merrill Lynch, the brokerage acquired by Bank of America. He had only joined the bank in May this year, having been recruited by chief executive John Thain to head business strategy, investments and acquisitions. He had been put in charge of streamlining and job-cutting efforts.