It’s Highly Unlikely They Will Receive An Umpa Lumpa Song Upon their Departure

Dominic Elliott and Antony Currie, Reuters

The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own

At least one of the three big bank chief executives to survive the financial crisis could be without a job by the end of 2013. Goldman Sachs’s  Lloyd Blankfein, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Brady Dougan at Credit Suisse have each suffered setbacks in the past year or more. The two U.S.-based bosses have done a better job of shrugging those off. But Dougan looks vulnerable.

Holding on to the top role at a bank during the financial crisis has required guts and skill. The survivors’ club halved in size in 2012: Deutsche Bank’s Joseph Ackermann, Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit and Bob Diamond at Barclays all left their banks – though for very different reasons.

Blankfein has weathered almost three years as the lightning rod for criticism of Wall Street’s role in the crisis and of its excessive pay. He’s not out of the woods: Goldman’s return on equity for the first nine months of the year was a disappointing 8.8 percent. But for now, calls for his head have all but ceased.

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