Raymond James, Jefferies Keep Their Focus

By Guy Adami, stocks editor at OptionMonster

The other day I was asked which banks would be left standing when the financial crisis is finally over.

I don't know if they'll be the very last ones around, but personally I like two names that haven't been in the headlines much in recent months. Given the news of late, that's probably not a bad thing. The banks are Raymond James (RJF) and Jefferies Group(JEF).

The reason? These guys are asset managers and asset gatherers who do their jobs and serve their clients with solid advice and investments, not selling them any crazy derivatives or other toxic assets that got us into so much trouble.

Raymond James and Jefferies are among the lower-profile names that have stuck to their core businesses during an era of overextension by the big players. And now, while others are firing, they're hiring.

These shops have kept their focus on the difficult but necessary regimen of blocking and tackling that originally made Wall Street great. As they thrive, I believe we will see the banking business return to the days of "high touch" service, when brokers actually knew the names of all their clients and spoke with them on a regular basis.

If any good is to come from this financial debacle, perhaps this will be one important positive: The client will once again become a high priority, not just another number in a database.