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New York • U.S. Bank Chairman and CEO Richard Davis announced Tuesday that he will retire from his job as head of one of the nation's largest regional banks.
The bank said Davis will step down from the CEO role as of April 18. He will be replaced by Andy Cecere, who is currently president and chief operating officer at U.S. Bank. Davis will remain with the bank in the new position of executive chairman, the bank said.
Davis became CEO of U.S. Bank in December 2006, on the eve of the financial crisis and Great Recession. He was applauded for steering it through the crisis mostly unscathed, and running the Minneapolis-based bank efficiently and with little drama.
He eschewed calls for U.S. Bank to lay off employees and close branches, instead focusing on spreading out into non-consumer banking businesses like payments technology to increase profitability. The bank was able to keep up profits despite increased regulations that came after the financial crisis and historically low interest rates.
Even the transition was handled smoothly, as Cecere, who has been with the bank since 1985, moved into his current positions in the last two years in order to prepare him to become CEO of U.S. Bank.