Year in review

Happy holidays! 2023 has been a whirlwind. Here's a roundup of the biggest themes this year:

ECONOMY

The uncertain economic outlook dominated conversations. When I interviewed JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in February, he warned the Fed could raise rates well 5% and inflation would be sticky. That was borne out. When Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon sat down with us in September, he pointed to growing optimism in markets, tempered by plenty of uncertainty. That persists. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told me on stage at Reuters Next in November that he expected the U.S. economy to make a soft landing, reiterating his long-held view that's now become conventional wisdom. And Lazard's new CEO Peter Orszag told me at the same event that geopolitics are becoming more central to business discussions. Others have concurred.

LEADERSHIP

We tracked succession at Morgan Stanley closely. Reuters was the fastest news outlet to report CEO James Gorman's announcement that he would step down. I followed up with a scoop on board deliberations, and we ran an early interview with Gorman and his successor, Ted Pick, once he was chosen.

At rival Goldman Sachs, we did a deep dive into the board's support for Solomon despite a slew of critical comments in news reports. We also covered its cost-cutting drive during a dealmaking drought.

We followed Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser's sweeping reorganization, including a management reshuffle and layoffs.

And we were first to report on investment banking leadership changes at JPMorgan and Bank of America.

CRISIS

The failures of three banks -- Silicon Valley, Signature and First Republic -- as well as UBS' takeover of Credit Suisse, kept us on our toes and deprived us of sleep this spring. In the wake of the turmoil, U.S. regulators proposed tougher capital requirements -- known as the Basel endgame -- that are strongly opposed by the industry.

AND MORE

Here's a selection of other noteworthy stories, spanning Goldman's rocky exit from the Apple card partnership, Morgan Stanley developing a wealth chatbot with OpenAI and JPMorgan employees griping about its return-to-office policy.

For this week's field report, I'm looking back to the World Economic Forum, AKA Davos, in January. What a year it's been.

To my sources: thank you for your tips, insight and good humor. To readers: I will deliver important, insightful and informative finance coverage in the year to come.

Happy holidays and best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Lananh