Comments of the Week: Nov. 26 - 30

November 30, 2012 9:49 AM

On Barney Frank receiving <em>American Banker</em>'s 2012 Lifetime Achievement award:

"Next we'll see the ABA endorsing al Qaeda for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Related Article: Lifetime Achievement: Barney Frank

(Image: Bloomberg News)

On Barney Frank receiving <em>American Banker</em>'s 2012 Lifetime Achievement award:

"This is a well written, balanced and accurate tribute, Rob [Blackwell, American Banker's Washington Bureau Chief]. Barney Frank deserves such an assessment as well as our thanks for a life in public service."

Related Article: Lifetime Achievement: Barney Frank

(Image: Bloomberg News)

On Reps. Barney Frank and Mike Capuano's proposed bill to combine the SEC and the CFTC:

"What kind of a bass-ackward system do we have when the only reason for not consolidating two redundant federal agencies is that their oversight by Congress is bifurcated between two oversight committees?"

On the CFPB collaborating with startups to promote financial innovation:

"If Americans and particularly innovators do not get that the CFPB is all about centralized control, then they desire to lose their freedom."

(Image: Bloomberg News)

On how the CFPB can promote financial innovation:

"Get the h--- out of the way. Bureaucracy is the antithesis of entrepreneurialism."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On claims that the CFPB stifles innovation:

"Stop whining about the CFPB in general. You know … the industry deserves to be even more highly regulated than it is and the CFPB is not bad or to blame."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On the need for financial innovation:

"We've already gone to hell in a hand basket and it's because of the methods by which we bank, borrow and manage our personal finances. We need to find new ways of doing old things. Innovative methods … have already proven themselves to outperform conventional thought and practice."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On hiring a 'champion' to oversee digital partnerships at traditional financial institutions:

"The champion needs to be the CEO or a direct report if you want something to happen."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On banks establishing digital partnerships with startups in order to stay relevant:

"Unfortunately the majority of banks (being of the 'community flavor') are still stuck in the 80s when it comes to the fundamentals of technology and the advice in this article is beyond their abilities."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On allowing credit unions to lend to applicants deemed bad risks by commercial bankers:

"We tried this with the S&L industry in the 1980s - it didn't work out well."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On using a few credit union failures to argue the business lending cap shouldn't be lifted:

"Would the same rationale apply to banks, which experienced many more commercial lending-induced failures?"

(Image: Thinkstock)

On subsidies distorting the housing market:

"Subsidizing is not synonymous with fraud … The pendulum always swings too far and fear prevents proper thinking."

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On subsidizing the housing market:

"To paraphrase Immanuel Kant, man is imperfect so his institutions will be as well. But public intervention always increases the opportunities for corruption and fraud, so real or imagined misdeeds of bankers during the subprime debacle aren't a reason to continue subsidizing housing."

On a call for bankers to get over their infatuation with risk models:

"It is a fact that complex models are always misleading particularly when one model throws a result right opposite to the other one."

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On judging a mortgage's value by its price:

"Most people are not able to shop for a mortgage the same way as one shops for an airline ticket … The cheapest mortgage might not be the best option for a consumer, as the ARM loan discussion demonstrates."

(Image: Thinkstock)

On how community banks can fight back against Basel III:

"Instead of arguing the details and capital levels, the community banks should ask the regulatory bodies for an explanation of their logic and the systemic risks presented by community banks under any deteriorated economic scenario."

(Image: Thinkstock)