CIT Group Inc has hired former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain as its new chief executive, the commercial lender said on Sunday, wagering that the well-traveled executive can guide its turnaround as it emerges from bankruptcy.
Thain, 54, immediately replaces interim CEO Peter Tobin, who will remain a director. Former CIT chief Jeff Peek, another past Merrill executive, retired on Jan. 15.
CIT said Thain was hired partly for the expertise he gained restructuring the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), as it looks to reestablish itself after a disastrous foray into subprime lending and one of the largest bankruptcies in US history.
Within the last decade, Thain was the No. 2 executive at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the No. 1 at both NYSE Euronext and Merrill Lynch, and was fired by Bank of America, which acquired Merrill in the midst of the mortgage-market inspired financial crisis.
CIT is not concerned about Thain’s reputation after his short but controversial stint at Bank of America, and the board performed the appropriate due diligence before hiring him, a person familiar with the company’s thinking said.
No specific terms of the contract were revealed.
Thain’s compensation will be “in line with expectations in this day and age,” John Ryan, CIT’s lead director, said in an interview, adding that Thain didn’t want to stand out at a time that Wall Street executives are under fire for what is seen as outsized compensations shortly after a recession.
CIT, which emerged from bankruptcy in December, said this month chief financial officer Alexander Mason would step down on Feb. 26 as it revamps management and its board.
After Thain left Goldman Sachs, he led the NYSE’s transformation from a floor-based market to a mostly electronic model. That restructuring “is similar to what CIT has to do going forward,” Tobinsaid in an interview.
About a year ago, Thain helped orchestrate the deal for Bank of America to acquire Merrill. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank fired Thain a few weeks later, and later dealt with the fallout of surprisingly large losses associated with its acquisition, as well as bonuses Merrill employees.
Some criticize Thain for being slow to recognize troubles at the storied investment bank he ran; others say he saved Merrill from the most devastating effects of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Although Thain’s background is largely in investment banking, his first tasks will likely include reducing CIT’s debt and reestablishing it as a lender for small and medium-sized businesses.
CIT’s new CEO will likely have to negotiate with regulators to allow it to move some of its best businesses to its bank, where it can fund them with deposits.
“CIT can and will serve an important role in the recovery of the US economy and the creation of jobs,” Thain said in a statement.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary