Welcome back! Dan DeFrancesco in NYC.
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Today, we’ve got stories on what the heck is going on at Goldman Sachs, a firm that’s using AI to slow down, and what life is like on NYC’s Billionaire’s Row.
But first, bankers and their clients.
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1. JPMorgan’s black cloud
While 2023 hasn’t been a banner year for JPMorgan, in many ways it could have been a lot worse.
In a year when three banks failed and plenty of others were at risk of following suit, the largest US bank did OK. Not only was it able to suck up deposits amid the crisis, it also nabbed one of the biggest prizes: First Republic.
JPMorgan and its CEO, one could reasonably argue, were the biggest winners in the wake of the 2023 bank crisis.
The bank’s share price seems to indicate as much, at least, as its year-to-date performance tops the six major US banks and is well above the Dow Jones US banks index.
But there remains a very large blight on JPMorgan’s record that has come back into the spotlight this year: Jeffrey Epstein.
The bank’s relationship with the convicted sex offender was known for years. But the settlement of one lawsuit and continuation of another this year have hung over JPMorgan like a black cloud.
Insider’s Kaja Whitehouse and Emmalyse Brownstein have a breakdown of JPMorgan’s long, drawn-out breakup with Epstein. Kaja and Emmalyse sorted through hundreds of pages of court papers and other documents, in addition to speaking to anti-money-laundering and sex-trafficking experts, to get a full picture of the relationship between the bank and the financier.
Read more on JPMorgan’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein.
In other news:
2. Move slow and make sure nothing breaks. For Norges Bank Investment Management, a $1.3 trillion Norwegian oil fund, using AI isn’t about speeding things up. Instead, the firm is using the cutting-edge tech to slow down and trade less. More on the change in strategy, and how well it’s working.
3. Goldman Sachs would appreciate you all bidding higher for the thing it’s trying to sell. The bank is on track to take a significant write-down for the lender GreenSky it’s looking to offload, per CNBC. More on the recent non-stop negativity over at Goldman.
4. Janet Yellen sees a comeback in dealmaking… between banks. The Treasury secretary isn’t particularly worried about the potential for more bank mergers this year, per The Wall Street Journal. Here’s why she doesn’t think it’s a “huge threat.”
5. People are starting to raise red flags about private credit. Rating agency Moody’s warned of a “serious challenge” in the booming private credit market, according to the Financial Times. Here’s a refresher on the key players in the space.
6. The government’s SVB bailout benefited lots of big players in the tech industry. Sequoia Capital, the high-profile VC firm, had $1 billion at the bank when it went under, according to an unredacted list of SVB depositors the FDIC mistakenly sent to Bloomberg.
7. Art investing made easy. Shares of a Francis Bacon painting will be publicly listed via an IPO for a new art stock exchange. Here’s how it’s helping normies like us enter the fine-art market.
8. Life on NYC’s Billionaire’s Row. Take a tour of Central Park Tower, the world’s tallest residential building and home to one of the most expensive homes in the world. Here’s a bunch of pics of what life is like for the 0.1%.
9. Speaking of lifestyles of the rich and the famous… Check out the Dassault Falcon 10X, a $75 million private jet that’s known as the “penthouse of the skies.” More here.
10. Everything you need to buy from Trader Joe’s. We’ve got a full rundown of the must-buy items at Trader Joe’s. Get shopping.
Curated by Dan DeFrancesco in New York. Feedback or tips? Email [email protected], tweet @dandefrancesco, or connect on LinkedIn. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet @jeffrey_cane) in New York and Jack Sommers (tweet @jack_sommers) in London.
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