Banks and financial institutions have abandoned Ethereum if you read R3s history (see link below) you'll find that they first tested the Ethereum platform for two weeks in January 2016 with 11 banks. That test was widely reported and helped increase the value of the public chain ETH despite involving a private chain only. The next stage involved 40 banks; but contrary to statements on various forums the Ethereum platform was abandoned for these tests. The platforms used in those tests were supplied by Eris Industries, IBM, Intel and Chain. R3 has gone on to create it's own platform (Corda)
See history here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R3_(company)
Below is a link indicating the large number of blockchain services Microsoft is including on Azure. Many of these services are direct competitors to the Ethereum platform.
http://www.coindesk.com/microsoft-blockchain-azure-marley-gray/Below is a link with the most recent addition to Azure. The Stratis platform is described as a complete blockchain package for financial institutions to upgrade their current infrastructure. Stratis is being tailored specifically to provide flexible enterprise solutions and nodes coded in the C# language. It's a direct competitor to Ethereum the platform.
http://cryptohustle.com/stratis-platform-added-to-microsofts-azure-baas-programBanks and financial institutions are even getting patents on various blockchain technology as described in the following article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-21/who-owns-blockchain-goldman-bofa-amass-patents-for-coming-warsThe fact is that there are numerous blockchain companies in existence that were able to raise funds without an ICO to attract the inexperienced investor. The banks and financial institutions have invested money with many of these firms. Traditional industry leaders have funds, lawyers and the technical expertise to not require the Ethereum Foundation.