U.S. Bank's Richard Davis and His Favorite Three-Letter Word

Richard Davis of U.S. Bancorp (USB) channeled his inner teenager again this week.

"OMG, no," Davis, the chairman and chief executive of the Minneapolis company, said in answering a question about its corporate banking business this week. An analyst had asked if the company was "leaving money on the table by not having a greater variety" of product offerings.

Davis quickly elaborated on his visceral remark.

"We only do what we understand and that we can control," Davis said. "We have got all the (features) we wanted to in the last few years by building out our wholesale bank and capital markets. Nothing left we covet. There is nothing we don't have that we want."

Davis has used the acronym that stands for "Oh My God," or the tamer "Oh My Gosh," before. He said it last month in expressing disbelief over the Volcker Rule and during the third-quarter 2011 conference call with investors. He also said it during the 2010 Most Powerful Women in Banking Awards gala (held by what is now American Banker Magazine), while presenting a lifetime achievement award to his former colleague, Diane Thormodsgard, according to a 2010 story in The New York Times' DealBook section.

"As my daughter would say, 'OMG'," Davis said in his speech.

Of course, there are plenty of acronyms in banking — NPA (nonperforming assets), G-SIFI (Global Systemically Important Financial Institution) and TCE (tangible common equity) are a few examples.

U.S. Bancorp reported earnings of $1.34 billion, up 28% from a year earlier, and several analysts said it was a solid quarter in which it ranked high in loan growth among big banks. In that case, a little colloquial OMG is worth an LOL.