Wall Street bull. (flickr user BK and EP)MANHATTAN — Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain started his new job Monday as chairman and CEO of CIT Group, a lender to small and medium-sized business.
Thain, 54, led Merrill Lynch during the tumultuous days of its takeover by Bank of America and was forced out in January of 2009 over the bank’s billions in losses, outsized bonuses and a scandalous $1.2 million office redecoration.
Thain’s new job will be to rebuild CIT, which just emerged from bankruptcy two months ago and was the first bank that caused the government to lose money under the federal bailout program.
“What attracted me here is that CIT is a company that’s very important to small- and medium-size businesses,” Thain told the New York Times on Sunday. “If we’re going to see the U.S. economy continue to grow and see new jobs, we have to provide financing to those companies.”
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