"much of the new management either came directly from the military or from executive positions at other major retail companies such as Pepsi Cola, Best Buy, Hom

"much of the new management either came directly from the military or from executive positions at other major retail companies such as Pepsi Cola, Best Buy, Home Depot--basically ANY line of business OTHER than banking. These people had no experience in banking, and that was ok, because BANKING just became RETAIL. Money and debt became a commodity to be sold to clients instead of managed responsibly." I use a bank whose initials are very close to WtF. When I listen to their managers and "bankers" (the employees who sit at desks rather than stand at counters), I hear them refer to their branch as a "store," e.g. "Hi this is Zachary at store number 1243 ..." Stores don't manage money, stores sell things, and I am very weary of being upsold to buy car insurance, home insurance, or to be snagged into their bill pay service any time I go in to do something face to face. Banks are not banks anymore, they're generic retail outfits whose management and executives can be swapped generically with 7/11 or Best Buy, and whose employees have similar functions and upsell responsibilities to those more explicitly retail businesses.