Financial Crisis to be Remembered for Generations to Come

WASHINGTON—Rather than looking toward a recovery, Richard Davis, chairman, president and CEO of U.S. Bancorp, is “looking for a new direction.”

The financial crisis, which will be remembered for generations to come, Davis said, inevitably will change the way both the banking and the mutual fund industries do business. “Our customers are making adjustments,” Davis said, giving the keynote address at the Investment Company Institute’s General Membership Meeting last week.

“Look at what each generation takes away from this,” Davis urged. “Inertia is not the answer. The behaviors are not indicative of what they are thinking. Get in the heads of the people and find out what they are thinking. Will people still be saving [rather than spending or investing] in two years? It’s a very important question.”