Back Porch

Daniel Zilberman
"If you asked me two years ago how many folks we compete with, I would have said 100. If you asked me today how many folks we compete with, it's probably six or seven."

A managing director at the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus, contending that few investors are looking to put capital into banks lately

Dennis Lockhart
"If I were thinking of the national economy as a love interest, I'd say she's been rather frisky lately, but I'm wary of being jilted."

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's president and CEO, discussing job growth, an uptick in lending and other positive economic news, and lamenting the letdown after similar upbeat announcements in 2010 and 2011

Bill Gross
"This is definitely not a casino."

Co-founder of PIMCO, insisting that the asset-management giant, which has come under fire for its use of derivatives, doesn't take the kind of risks Wall Street is famed for

Douglas Holtz-Eakin
"It's the fourth time I've predicted the bottom of the housing market, but I think I'm right this time."

Economist who served on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

Chris Christie
"He should just write a check and shut up."

New Jersey's governor, on Warren Buffet's call for higher taxes on the wealthy

Philip Smith
"He has no hesitation about burying the dead, but he won't shoot the wounded either."

A partner at Gerrish McCreary Smith in Memphis, Tenn., speaking of Greg Gonzales, the state's banking commissioner, and the relatively few bank failures there

Ron Hansen
"I would ask the regulators to join forces with banks and go to the legislators and say, 'This stuff you guys are proposing is ridiculous.'"

President and CEO of Liberty Trust & Savings Bank in Durant, Iowa, to rousing applause from attendees of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s first community banking conference

Lyle Lamothe
"I know some people can thrive in that format, but I'm not one of them. I didn't get into the financial services business to be a commercial banker."

Former wealth management head for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, blaming his abrupt departure last spring on a discomfort with what he sees as the bank emphasizing its own goals over brokerage clients' needs

Brian Riley
"This is something like leaving the key under the mat."

A research director at TowerGroup, discussing a security flaw in Google Wallet-equipped phones that would make PIN codes vulnerable to hackers