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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 the push to provide consumers with more thorough disclosures about overdraft fees:

"Providing more information and explanation will not improve comprehension if consumers aren't interested. In fact, more disclosure often overwhelms consumers and undermines understanding. (Just ask any recent mortgage applicant.)"

Related Article: Consumers Said to Remain Befuddled on Overdraft Fees

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On alternative explanations as to why many Americans are confused about overdraft rules and fees:

"It is not a surprise that a large number are uncertain about their overdraft protection. Less than a third of accounts in a given year have any overdrafts. A large chunk of the ones that do have overdrafts are infrequent users of the service. The highest users understand it very well and continue to value it."

Related Article: Consumers Said to Remain Befuddled on Overdraft Fees

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On how BNP Paribas executives have avoided criminal charges despite the fact that the company pleaded guilty this week to breaking U.S. sanctions:

"It's a good thing these fine, silk-stockinged people at BNP weren't selling a few grams of crack. They may have actually gone to prison for doing something really bad."

Related Article: Three Threats to U.S. Banks from BNP Paribas Fine

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In response to those who suggest that U.S. authorities pursued an unfairly harsh settlement with French lender BNP Paribas:

"Would France not take a hard line against a U.S. company breaking French law? We can all agree that regulations are onerous and often far-reaching, but that is not the issue in this case."

Related Article: Three Threats to U.S. Banks from BNP Paribas Fine

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On banks' efforts to gather new client data in order to personalize customer service:

"It's been my experience that banks have a lot more information about their customers than they know. Often, that detail is hoarded, in the great bank silo tradition, knowingly or unknowingly. I can't help but wonder how much of the 'new' collection is redundant effort."

Related Article: Banks Beef Up Data-Gathering in Bid to Personalize Service

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On BNP Paribas, HSBC and other banks that have allegedly violated economic sanctions (via <a href="https://twitter.com/TerryJorde" target="_blank">Twitter</a>):

"Human lives at risk for profits. How do they sleep?"

Related Article: The Seven Largest Sanctions-Related Fines against Banks

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On why some community banks avoid creating detailed succession plans:

Banks "tend to defer dealing with the topic of succession. It hurts folks' feelings; CEOs feel like their impact will be undermined; done incorrectly, it can screw up the teamwork, camaraderie and culture."

Related Article: Is Bank Management Past Its Prime?

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On whether bank executives can ever rest easy knowing they've done as much as they can to ward off cyberattacks:

[Cybersecurity measures are] "never going to be enough … but those who seal their data off from network connectivity have a better chance of standing the test of time."

Related Article: How Much Cybersecurity Is Enough?

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On a Wall Street lobbying group's defense of banks that have changed the terms of offshore swap agreements in order to skirt U.S. regulations:

"This 'is a lawful response to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act and not an effort to take advantage of a loophole.' How arrogant can industry spokespersons get? These are by no means mutually inconsistent categories. Lawfulness distinguishes a loophole from an evasion, but it does not mean it is not a threat to financial stability."

Related Article: Wall Street Defends Overseas Swap Trading from U.S. Regulation

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On whether Ripple, an open-source payment and currency exchange system, could transform the way commerce is conducted:

"Ripple is an interesting system but the currencies on it lack one important quality: fungibility. A [U.S. Dollar] on Ripple is not a USD as we are used to thinking about it. It is an IOU, guaranteed by the organization acting as a Ripple gateway, to repay USD on demand. Big difference."

Related Article: How a Bitcoin Rival Could Create a Global Supermoney

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