Crosbie says departure from Moody’s KMV was amicable

Peter Crosbie, outgoing president and chief executive of Moody’s KMV, said his decision to leave the credit risk management company formed when Moody’s bought KMV last year was amicable.

Speaking to RiskNews, Crosbie said: “ It was my personal decision and has nothing to do with a change in the strategy at the firm, or anything like that.”

Crosbie said he would stay on for a number of months to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities to his replacement Doug Woodham, Moody’s senior vice-president in charge of strategy, corporate development and technology. Woodham led the Moody’s team in the $210 million purchase of KMV.

KMV founders Andrew McQuown and Oldrich Vasicek will continue working for Moody’s KMV, Crosbie said.

“We had a terrific year last year and were able to meet all our goals and objectives and so-forth without any appreciable disruptions to our service to clients or to our product development,” Crosbie said. “The businesses were very complementary and we were able to plug them together without really any issues at all.”

Woodham said Moody’s KMV had exceeded its financial targets set for 2002, both on revenues and operating income.

At the time of the takeover, the combined Moody’s KMV business was expected to make revenues of between $95 million and $100 million for 2002. Moody’s next earnings statement is due in early February.