The chief executive of Social Investment Scotland (SIS) recalls enjoying the sense of belonging fostered in an organisation people thought would last for ever.
"I loved Bank of Scotland. I loved working there, it was such a supportive environment. I never expected to go anywhere else. I was going to be there for the rest of my life, but the wheels came off the bus," says Mr Davis, who spent years working in areas such as property lending before moving to the community banking arm in 2005.
He also remembers well the sense of growing concern he felt as what became Halifax Bank of Scotland teetered on the brink, before it was rescued by Lloyds TSB in September 2008.
"I remember walking up the [Royal] Mile one day and I thought I might not be paid at the end of the month.
"It became very much about selling deposits and bringing cash in and not really about the customers we dealt with and who they were and very much moving towards an aggressive sales culture, and I began to feel a growing sense of unease that this was not for me any more. I just felt a cultural misfit."
The 32-year-old says it was much worse for people who had been 20 or 30 years in what they thought was a job for life.
He may have reasons to be pleased that he moved from HBOS in May 2009 to become investment director at Social Investment Scotland, which describes itself as the largest not-for-profit provider of business loans to the third sector in the country.
It offers loans of up to £250,000 to groups that may struggle to get support from conventional lenders, using £11million committed by Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank, Lloyds TSB and the Co-operative Bank.
Founded in 2001, the Edinburgh-based SIS has also managed a £30m fund for the Scottish Government since 2008.
Hamilton-born Mr Davis was promoted to the top job last September after Craig Campbell left to run the Homeless World Cup.
His job means the Strathclyde Business School graduate can use the skills acquired in banking to help ensure the organisation selects borrowers who are both worthy and likely to repay any loans. In July, Social Investment Scotland provided £20,000 for Just Trading Scotland, a Paisley-based fair trade wholesaler and retailer.
Other recent recipients have included the Phoenix Cinema in Oban, which the community reopened last year after it had lain empty for almost 18 months.
Mr Davis exudes energy, but also shows an ability to reflect that he admits he may not always have displayed at the bank. After joining as a trainee in 2001, he went on to work in a team he says took an aggressive stance on property lending in the early noughties.
"I question myself why I, or other individuals, didn't ever think 'this isn't sustainable or this can't last for ever', but for me it was all that I knew," says Mr Davis.
Later, he adds: "I suppose looking back I regret that I did not have the self awareness to be more questioning of the environment I was working in and what it meant for me. You get into a corporate situation where you think more as a group."
Mr Davis is very grateful that banks have continued to support SIS amid the commercial challenges they have faced. But the very public problems of major lenders have created opportunities for the organisation.
He is scathing about some well-known executives who enjoyed huge pay packages.
Mr Davis predicts: "What I think we will see is people having a greater awareness of the institutions they deal with and looking closer at what they do, and this trust of big institutions like banks is no longer what it used to be."
He adds: "It creates a space for organisations like SIS to come into where people are more respectful of the values of this as an organisation and the ethos and the approach we take."
A former president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Edinburgh, Mr Davis believes recent research shows SIS has done lots of good work since 2001.
It has made 115 loans totalling £11.4m. These have supported £60m projects. Some 36% of the loans reached Scotland's most deprived communities. Only 10 went bad.
The SIS-managed Scottish Investment Fund has invested in more than 50 enterprises.
The organisation believes the research on its performance shows SIS is helping to create a larger and more robust third sector in Scotland.
Still, since taking charge, Mr Davis has spent a year working hard to change the personality of a body which had a pretty low profile.
"One of the biggest things we have done through my leadership has been a much more transparent organisation, much more focused on the needs of our customers, engaging a lot more with the organisation we work with."
Fresh from a week of intensive study on the prestigious executive eduction programme at Harvard University, for which he won a scholarship, Mr Davis believes Scotland is not doing badly, but thinks social investment could be much bigger.
Social investment bodies in the US collectively invest billions of dollars.
Mr Davis reels off a list of challenges the organisation may try to address that shows he has some big ideas.
"My ambitions for the organisation are much greater than just managing a loan fund of £7m or £8m.
"It's all about impact so we're now much more focused on what impact that money can make and how can we increase that impact. So, how can we use social investment to create more jobs in Scotland, for example, being very clear about what we are trying to achieve?
"How can we improve the experience of elderly people in residential care through social investment?
"How can we stop re-offending among the young? How can we engage more effectively with communities that want to engage in renewable energy activity? There's a whole list of things we could do."
A move into such areas will involve SIS stimulating demand, not just reacting to it. This is a prospect that might alarm people who may have concerns about banks influencing social policy in such a way, even at arm's length.
Asked if the organisation is not at risk of straying into the realm of policy makers, Mr Davis sounds unapologetic.
"It is a bit. What we can do is provide case studies and examples of where things are happening already or where things have been tried and need more investment.
"The Government is no longer able to fund everything for themselves so it is looking for new solutions, for innovative ideas. There will always be a role for Government but perhaps in certain areas things can be done better."
The influence of banks on Social Investment Scotland's work may be diluted under Mr Davis's plans to raise funds from new sources, such as high net-worth individuals. Not one to aim low, Mr Davis wants SIS to have £100m under management by 2016.
A return to banking seems unlikely. "It just does not sit well. The thought of earning money for shareholders does not sit well with me any more."
l Born 1980 in Lanarkshire.
l Educated at Hamilton College and the University of Strathclyde, where he read Human Resource Management with Economics.
l Joined Bank of Scotland as a graduate trainee in 2001.
l Moved to Halifax Bank of Scotland community banking team in February 2005.
l Joined Social Investment Scotland as investment director in May 2009.
l Became chief executive in September 2011.
l Outside interests include advising young entrepreneurs funded by The Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust.
l Mr Davis was judged "Most Outstanding Local President in Europe" for his work in that position with Junior Chamber.
