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American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

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On lessons to be gleaned from Banco Santander's $8.9 billion capital raise and subsequent stock plunge:

"Capital has consequences. It is good for the economy that banks are adequately capitalized. It is bad for the economy if there is a lot of capital idle at banks because regulatory pressure makes them significantly overcapitalized."

Related Article: Capital Comes at a Cost — Just Ask Santander

Pictured: Santander chairman Ana Botin, Image: Bloomberg News

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On the argument that warnings about the continued threat of 'too big to fail' are overblown:

"This is probably the same type of messaging nuclear power plants tell their surrounding communities. 'We've got this, don't worry, safety is our #1 priority' ... until something happens, then it's 'Oops.'"

Related Article: The Right Way to Take Measure of TBTF

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On why higher capital requirements may not be sufficient to blunt the risk of bank failure:

"Saltzman argues that more and higher quality capital standards mitigate failure. He fails to mention that TBTF banks were serial offenders of using off-balance-sheet entities and methods to overstate their equity — that hasn't ended."

Related Article: The Right Way to Take Measure of TBTF

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On Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell's arguments against the "Audit the Fed" bill gaining steam in Congress:

"The Fed's balance sheet balloons to $4 trillion with no clear plan to unwind it and yet Fed officials react to increased scrutiny with disdain?"

Related Article: Fed's Powell Defends Agency Against 'Misguided' Audit Bills

Pictured: Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell, Image: Bloomberg News

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On the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's plan to create a scorecard that aims to help colleges evaluate student bank account features:

"I agree with your criticism about schools' not knowing enough to negotiate terms that are better than what students can get on their own, but why is the answer to ask the federal government to create rules to do this?"

Related Article: CFPB Student Scorecard Offers Much-Needed Reforms

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On the reemergence of so-called piggyback mortgages, which lenders stopped offering in the aftermath of the housing crisis:

"Did Kinecta Federal Credit Union sleep through the mortgage bust?"

Related Article: A Bubble-Era Product, Thought Extinct, Has Reemerged in California

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On the argument that it's in the best interests of the public to have financial institutions of all sizes, including megabanks:

"Please identify a single person who cares whether their bank has $50 billion or $2.6 trillion in assets. Except, of course, when your $2.6 trillion bank with a frightening rap sheet wrecks the economy."

Related Article: Obama's Bank Tax Rests on Shaky Foundation

Image: Bloomberg News

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On the fact that the Justice Department did not seek an admission of guilt in its settlement with Standard & Poor's over allegedly misleading investors with its ratings of mortgage-backed securities:

"We now use magenta and pink ink to grade papers because red ink is too harsh. … All three major credit rating agencies committed fraud against bond buyers; should be jail time and disbarment. Instead, some more 'pink ink.'"

Related Article: To Stop Next Crisis, Make S&P Own Up to Fraud in Settlement

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On an argument in support of laws that would bolster community banks while cracking down on their largest competitors:

"If the legislature chooses to enact any law that supports one sector of the market (community banks) over another (national banks), private capital holders will simply attempt to maximize shareholder value within the new construct. It's more likely, under that scenario, that investors will merge their public community banks to increase efficiencies and use the pricing power of the merged entity to drive down profitability of private community banks to the point of extinction, leaving large regionals as the sole providers of regulated bank services."

Related Article: Why Banks Should Support Elizabeth Warren

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