Cowen Group CEO Fennebresque retiring

NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - Cowen Group Inc (COWN.O), a small investment bank, on Tuesday said Kim Fennebresque is retiring as chief executive, effective immediately.

Fennebresque has worked at Cowen for 10 years, and will become non-executive chairman. He will be replaced as chief executive by David Malcolm, who had been executive vice chairman. Malcolm, who is known as Greg, will also join Cowen's board of directors.

On Feb 28, Cowen posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $10.7 million, or 86 cents per share, as revenue fell 39 percent to $59.3 million.

"Greg Malcolm is the ideal person to lead Cowen at this time," lead director John Toffolon Jr said in a statement.

Cowen shares closed Tuesday down 7 cents at $7.00 on the Nasdaq. They have fallen more than two-thirds from their record high set in Dec. 2006. The New York-based company was spun off by Societe Generale earlier that year. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by Carol Bishopric)