J. Craig Shearman
"To say that cracking down on interchange fees is going to lead to higher consumer fees and shouldn't be done is like saying we shouldn't crack down on robbing liquor stores because we'll go rob gas stations instead. It's just a totally unacceptable response."
— Vice president of government affairs for the National Retail Federation, challenging the argument that banks and credit unions must recoup the loss of interchange revenue by imposing fees on consumers
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Andrew Cecere
"The revenue would be below our cost for that product, which clearly is not a sustainable model."
— U.S. Bancorp's chief financial officer, on the Federal Reserve's proposal to cap debit interchange fees at 12 cents per transaction (which is roughly 70 percent lower than the current average)
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Sheila Bair
"The bottom line is that we need more modifications and fewer foreclosures."
— FDIC chairman, speaking at a conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association
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Chris Mutascio
"You have Comerica, trading at 1.3 times tangible book, buying a franchise for 2.3, and you think that's going to go higher?"
— Analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., questioning whether Comerica overpaid for Sterling
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Carol Sirou
"No triple-A rating is forever."
— Regional head and president of S&P France, warning that heavy debt and stubbornly high unemployment levels in the United States could hurt its sterling credit rating
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Ralph Babb
"We're really pleased with the fact that it's an expanding, not a consolidating acquisition. It builds on the momentum we are generating in Texas."
— Comerica's CEO, on bulking up in its new home state with a $1 billion deal for Houston's Sterling Bancshares
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Ben Bernanke
"As a scholar of the Great Depression, I honestly believe that September and October of 2008 was the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression."
— Federal Reserve chairman, speaking to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission
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President Obama
"Now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable."
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Oliver Ireland
"If they don't charge the cardholder the entire amount, then what do they do? They charge people who don't use debit cards for the debit card transactions... What kind of regulatory wisdom is that? This is quite frankly the worst thing I've ever seen. And I've been looking at regulatory developments since 1974."
— Partner at the law firm Morrison & Foerster, expressing surprise at how rigidly the Fed interpreted the Dodd-Frank Act in proposing such a low cap on interchange fees for debit cards
