<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110651946402433460,00.html> The Wall Street Journal January 24, 2005 REVIEW & OUTLOOK Walter Wriston January 24, 2005; Page A18 One great underlying strength of the modern American economy is its innovative and competitive financial system, and one of its architects was Walter Wriston, who died last week at age 85. As an executive with First National City Bank, and later chairman of Citicorp, he helped to create products and services that millions of Americans now take for granted, such as the certificate of deposit and the automated teller machine. Under his leadership, Citicorp became the largest American bank and one of the most profitable in the world, with a global customer base that continues to grow today. We always thought it a shame he was never Treasury Secretary, though his intellectual influence was greater than that of most who did serve in that post. After his retirement from Citicorp in 1984, he wrote widely and presciently about the way technology was transforming our age. His 1992 book, "The Twilight of Sovereignty: How the Information Revolution is Transforming Our World," was ahead of its time. He was a major supporter of the Manhattan Institute and other think-tanks that promoted free market ideas. Raised in modest Midwest circumstances, Mr. Wriston was the kind of creative and public-spirited capitalist that America is so fortunate to produce and remains one of the secrets of our prosperity. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'