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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 big banks' efforts to reverse a Dodd-Frank provision by slipping the change into the government spending bill:

"I believe it was David Stockman, Reagan's budget director, who remarked about 'hogs feeding at the trough.' Time passes, lobbyist influence increases and taxpayers suffer again. Perhaps an IRS ruling declaring lobbying to not be a legitimate business expense would help."

Related Article: Big Banks' Swaps Push-Out Repeal Is a Pyrrhic Victory

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On whether Wall Street damaged its public image by pushing through the repeal:

"The big banks, particularly [JPMorgan Chase] and Citi, have added enormous credibility to everything their critics say about them. With the patent exploitation of the deposit insurance subsidy for running their swaps businesses they are displaying the same greed that ultimately led to their downfall just under a century ago."

Related Article: Why Citi May Soon Regret Its Big Victory on Capitol Hill

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On the argument that the repeal of the swaps push-out rule increases the risk of a bailout funded by taxpayers:

"The FDIC's exposure today is the same as it was last week. Actually, it may be a bit less, if banks will be able to continue to use swaps to mitigate their risks and reduce their likelihood of loss to what really causes banks to fail, bad loans."

Related Article: Big Banks' Swaps Push-Out Repeal Is a Pyrrhic Victory

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On the legacy of recently retired TD chief Ed Clark:

"It takes an amazing combination of IQ and EQ to run a large financial institution well, and few possess the right mix. Ed Clark was the best I ever saw at finding the balance between vision, active leadership and listening that is necessary for long-term success. He built a great franchise in Canada and the U.S. But perhaps his most important legacy will be the diverse team of leaders he leaves behind him."

Related Article: Lifetime Achievement Honoree: TD's Ed Clark

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On regulators' mixed messages with regards to Operation Choke Point:

"This adds more fuel to the fire that, while banks certainly are hard to be sympathetic to, their regulators are speaking out of both sides of their mouth. On the one hand, per the article and FDIC correspondence, the FDIC made sure that banks 'got the message' — that maintaining relationships with certain disfavored business lines would incur enormous regulatory risk. These conversations are in private. Meanwhile, publicly, other regulators are telling banks that 'de-risking' by not doing business with entire industries is not what they want banks to do."

Related Article: How I Ended Up in a Congressional 'Choke Point' Report

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On a call for banks to make more independent decisions rather than relying too heavily on regulatory feedback:

"I have a client that calls the [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] every time they make even the smallest of decisions … and I've been trying to work with them to run their own bank in the interest of their customers and shareholders versus running the bank for the OCC."

Related Article: Financial Industry Should Be Its Own Knight in Shining Armor

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On whether the Treasury sweep of Fannie and Freddie's profits threatens their financial stability:

"The GSEs are perfectly stable now with the full backing of the Treasury. The GSEs don't require any private capital at all. Were it not for government backing, the GSEs would be low BBB credits and could not function as they do today."

Related Article: No Sense in Keeping the GSEs Undercapitalized

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On the news that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expanding the scope of its jurisdiction to include telecommunications behemoth Sprint:

"Oh the unintended consequences of government bureaucracy … the tentacles will always get more than you expect.

Related Article: CFPB Unexpectedly Claims Jurisdiction Over Cell Phone Companies

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On predictions as to what other industries may be targeted by the CFPB, via <a href="https://twitter.com/amerbanker/status/545348184743366656" target="_blank">Twitter</a>:

"…the financial press? Don't doubt it."

Related Article: CFPB Unexpectedly Claims Jurisdiction Over Cell Phone Companies

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On how to relieve smaller banks' regulatory burden while keeping a close eye on systemically important financial institutions:

"We need a bifurcated bank regulatory system. Banks that pose a systemic risk to the financial system belong in one group. The rest, who pose no threat to the system, belong in another. Let the FDIC and OCC take the large banks and the Fed take the small banks. Oversight should be based on prior performance and understanding of risk. If a bank had hundreds of foreclosures, a history of consumer complaints, large commercial loan losses, they get closer scrutiny. If a bank has few if any consumer complaints, no history of foreclosures, small loan losses…. leave them alone."

Related Article: My Life on the CFPB 'Dark Side'

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On a forthcoming JPMorgan report that will include a description of top executives' compensation structure:

"What does it say about the company's culture that they have to use 'positive incentives reinforcing responsible behavior' to get their employees to act ethically? Isn't that the crux of the problem?"

Related Article: Faith-Based Group Forces Governance Changes at JPMorgan Chase

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