OpenAI ousts Sam Altman; Chase discloses carbon emissions

November 17, 2023 4:23 PM

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This week, OpenAI's board of directors ousted founder Sam Altman, a convicted ex-Goldman Sachs executive asked a court to lower his legal fees and JPMorgan Chase issued a report on its carbon emissions, several bank executives made career moves, and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

Convicted Goldman exec asks judge to slash legal bill owed to bank

A former Goldman Sachs vice president convicted of insider trading asked a judge to reduce the restitution he owes the bank for legal expenses to $123,924 from $393,149.

Brijesh Goel, who passed confidential deal information to a close friend and squash partner, was sentenced to three years in prison this month. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel also fined Goel $75,000 and ordered him to forfeit $85,000, which was Goel's cut of some $280,000 in profits from the trades.

Goldman Sachs, which produced supporting documents for prosecutors and for a parallel investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, submitted the $393,149 bill to the government as part of a request for restitution from Goel.

In a court filing Wednesday, Goel's lawyers argued their client shouldn't be responsible for legal costs incurred by Goldman for cooperating with both the SEC and the Justice Department. Further, Goel's lawyers argued, he shouldn't have to pay Goldman's legal fees to prepare its witnesses for meetings with the prosecution.

The case is US v. Goel, 22-cr-00396, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). — Greg Farrell, Bloomberg News

Sam Altman ousted as CEO of OpenAI

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company whose ChatGPT chatbot has popularized large language models in the past year, said its CEO and founder Sam Altman has left the company.

Chief technology officer Mira Murati has been appointed interim CEO. The company said a search process is underway to identify a permanent successor.

In a blog post, OpenAI said Altman's departure "follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI."

In a statement, the board of directors said: "We are grateful for Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI. At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward."

OpenAI's board of directors consists of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, independent directors Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology's Helen Toner.

As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will step down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role as company president, reporting to the CEO. —Penny Crosman

JPMorgan Chase discloses carbon emissions, commits to tougher targets

JPMorgan Chase expanded its disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and committed to new targets in the bank's annual climate report published this week.

The report details new disclosures of the bank's absolute financed emissions, including Scope 3 supply-chain emissions for the oil and natural gas sectors. The bank also set new targets for reducing emissions intensity for the shipping and aluminum sectors by 2030. Absolute emissions disclosures quantify the volume of emissions a company produces, or in the case of Scope 3 emissions, how much carbon dioxide its clients and partners are producing along a supply chain. Emissions intensity measures the efficiency of the process that generates pollutants.

Jamie Dimon, the bank's CEO, noted in the report that financial institutions face challenges in meeting goals to reduce emissions by 2050 while also ensuring that secure, reliable and affordable energy needs are met. "We can — and must — do both," Dimon wrote in the report. —Jordan Stutts

Bank of America's top China banker to banks Hsueh is said to depart

Bank of America's head of investment banking for its financial institutions group in greater China, Michael Hsueh, has left the U.S. lender, according to people familiar with the matter.

A managing director based in Hong Kong, Hsueh is on gardening leave after his departure, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. He plans to pursue other career opportunities outside of banking, the people said.

Hsueh worked on deals including mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings involving Chinese and Taiwanese banks, insurers and asset managers and had been at BofA for more than 15 years in Hong Kong, according to his LinkedIn profile.

At almost $400 billion, the volume of M&A deals in Asia is headed for its lowest level in about a decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. IPOs in Asia, particularly in China, have also dried up this year amid global geopolitical tensions, regulatory hurdles and an economic slowdown. — Manuel Baigorri, Bloomberg News

Ex-Credit Suisse banker Tucker Martin to join TD Cowen

Former Credit Suisse banker Tucker Martin is poised to join Toronto-Dominion Bank's U.S. investment banking arm TD Cowen, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Martin will join TD Cowen in the coming weeks and will report to co-head of global equity capital markets Grant Miller, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity discussing an appointment that isn't yet public.

Martin left Credit Suisse in September after almost two decades, according to Finra records. He specializes in equity-linked financings and corporate equity derivatives for companies across all sectors, with a recent focus on those in the health care, energy transition, retail and consumer industries, according to his LinkedIn profile.

At TD Cowen, Martin will be reunited with former colleagues including Steve Hulce, who was head of convertible bond sales at Credit Suisse. —Gillian Tan and Amy Or, Bloomberg News

Associated Bank hires U.S. Bank executive to lead commercial unit

Phillip Trier will take charge of business development among middle-market firms in his new role at Associated Banc-Corp.

Trier most recently spent 23 years at U.S. Bancorp, where he started as a relationship manager before rising to his current position as the head of commercial banking for 11 Midwestern states.

The appointment comes a week after the Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Associated announced a new phase of its strategic plan, including a headcount reduction of 3% of its roughly 4,000 employees. The plan also calls for investments designed to boost deposit growth and diversify the bank's loan portfolio. —Orla McCaffrey

Longtime Goldman Sachs Japan chief Mochida steps down

Goldman Sachs Group's Japan president is stepping down after 38 years at the U.S. investment bank, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Masanori Mochida, 68, is leaving his role, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The Financial Times reported Mochida's departure Friday. He was due to retire next year but the process was expedited in recent days due to a need for fresh leadership amid competition for deals, the FT reported, citing unidentified people. Hiroko Matsumoto, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for Goldman, declined to comment.

Mochida, who became president in 2001, helped to build Goldman's Japan business during the country's lost years following the collapse of an asset and real estate price bubble. Under his leadership, the firm became a major player in an industry that had previously been dominated by domestic banks.

His departure comes amid renewed interest in investing in Japanese companies following a rebound in the stock market that has been partially attributed to corporate governance reforms and a greater acceptance of shareholder activism.

One of Goldman's most high-profile moves in the post-bubble era was to buy struggling golf courses. In recent years, the U.S. firm advised on deals including Toshiba's sale of its memory chip business. It's not clear what Mochida will do in retirement. An avowed rugby fan, he co-wrote a book with former Japan national team coach Eddie Jones in 2017. In the book, he wrote that he would like to run a professional team with Jones, who has also coached England and Australia. —By Taro Fuse and Takashi Nakamichi