US Bancorp CEO Explains Banking | Simoleon Sense

Ok, yes I know this was pre-Lehman, and even pre-Bear! That said, it is an excellent starting point to understand banking. (If I were currently teaching a Money and Banking class I guarantee it would be required and tested).

Richard Davis (the CEO) speaks on the banking industry as well as his own firm.

US Bancorp CEO Explains Banking | Simoleon Sense:

"This video was posted at the noisefree investing blog. Great find.

Introduction (Via Noisefree Investing)

In this hour long video, Davis -one of the few banking CEO’s to remain largely unscathed in the recent financial mess- gives a great overview of the banking system. Davis is the CEO at US Bancorp."

While many might question the term unscathed (stock price fell by over 70% at trough), it is true they seemingly came through it alive. And yes, it should be noted that US Bancorp did get TARP money and is currently in plans to issue new equity.

A great class project would be to look at the firm and see what happened to it over the past 18 months realizing its exposure to the California housing market. (Hint: use Google lab's TimeLine (which wont allow me to link to it, but is very good and could easily be used to make a fascinating class discussion)