'A Dogfight for Market Share': Comments of the Week

May 30, 2014 7:30 AM

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

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On the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau making up for disparities in staff performance evaluations by paying most employees as if they received the highest rating:

"Rank the rankers and make adjustments as needed but stop giving everyone a gold medal. Their incentive to improve just went to zero."

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On entrenched sexism in the financial industry:

"From personal experience as a consultant, when I tell clients I have kids, the shock and awe that comes with their response makes you feel less of a mom. 'You have kids and travel?!?!' I never see my male co-workers get that response." (Pictured: Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair)

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On the suggestion that women in banking and finance should talk to their partners about sharing more household responsibilities:

"Men smart enough to marry smart women are smart enough to do housework and kid duty and run their careers. Men can have it all!"

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On the challenges of implementing a universal teller model:

"Staff who can competently handle everything from transactions to loans to small business services at $37K per year? This model will fail if banks try to fake it by simply changing titles, and don't properly hire, pay, train and certify."

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On the need for further reform in the U.S. credit-card industry:

"Finally forcing banks to tell the truth and cease some of the egregious 'tricks and traps' was a major step in giving consumers a fair shake, but so much more waits to be done."

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On bank regulators' low tolerance for errors:

"I have even seen criticism of the GRAMMAR used on bank policies. I fail to understand how consumers are being protected when an examiner gets all hyped up over a policy sentence ending in a preposition."

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On the idea that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is here to stay:

"There was also a time when Fannie and Freddie were invincible. Hubris is alive and well."

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On the head of a California mortgage lender who was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud:

"If Pitchersky goes to jail for misrepresentations to Ally Bank, why has no one at the big banks gone to jail for misrepresentations of their mortgage-backed securities to investors and the GSEs?"

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10. On a prediction that the Affordable Care Act will disrupt the healthcare lending industry:

"Is our author telling us that thousands of hospitals and health care providers have been cheating the insurance companies, and the government providers like Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare, and now enforcement will catch up to the frauds? I'd say that's a good thing."

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On a bullish interpretation of the loan growth indicators in the FDIC's quarterly banking profile:

"Loan growth? Yes. Surge, no way. There is no nirvana out there in terms of lower FICO borrowers in" one- to four-family mortgage lending. (Via Twitter.)

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On why lending is now a zero-sum game:

"It is a dogfight for market share." (Via Twitter.)

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