 Banking operations emerged as an opportunity and the firm began selling investment services to banks and insurance companies, helping them manage their growing deposits.This shift had a large impact on U.S. Trust and by 1977 banking made up 50% of the company’s earnings.By the latter half of the 1970s, profits had declined and despite efforts to expand the firm’s physical footprint, it lost large pension fund clients due to poor performance and an incident where municipal bond certificates worth $397 million disappeared from its vault.