The announced departure of Scott Kapnick, a 21-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, suggests that Goldman Sachs may have fulfilled a wish of former CEO Hank Paulson. Kapnick was a pioneer in building out the bank's successful European operations, but several large bids that the firm advised on did not pan out--Paulson was critical of the effort. Richard Sharp, then head of Goldman's European private equity arm, announced in July that he would depart Goldman. At that time, Goldman announced that Kapnick would be joined by Richard Gnodde as co-chief executive in Europe. This can be seen as a "generational" thing, or as the current CEO putting his stamp on Europe.

For more:
- Here's a Financial Times article via MSN
- Here's more on U.S. banks in Europe