"Backdoor Bailouts" and Buggywhips: Comments of the Week
May 2, 2014 1:04 PM
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.
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On New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's settlement with B of A's ex-CEO Ken Lewis:
"BofA paid, Schneiderman crowed, Lewis goes back to his golf game (now sans beard)."
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On why bank management sometimes fails to notice rising risk:
"Managers are paid for growing the business they are managing, and are rarely cognizant of the increasing risks they are incurring to grow their business."
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On regulatory settlements with big banks for their role in the financial crisis:
"Despite occasional tough talk from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, these primary regulators remain timid and impotent when it comes to the mega-banks at the heart of the second worst economic disaster in U.S. history."
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On Mississippi regulators' lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for its debt collection practices:
"Many of us would like to trust bankers or others with power, but it is clear that those in power cannot be trusted. Those who want to do the right thing cannot because powerful systems are, by nature, driven by greed and corruption."
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On community banks and the pace of innovation:
"Will community banks follow the path of the buggy-whip shopkeepers in the era of self-driving cars, or will community bankers accept the challenge to evolve?"
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On the FDIC's efforts to encourage banks to reach the underserved:
"Let banks and non banks work on innovation. The regulator guidance is ineffective to addressing demand and fosters inertia."
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On how quantitative easing helps big banks:
"Where is the mystery on QE Infinity actually being yet another 'backdoor bailout' for the mega-banks?"
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On banks' stake in payday lending regulation:
"The real pressure on the government to regulate payday loan companies will be coming from the banks. The same banks of course who own the credit card companies who, before the rise of payday loan companies, were the payday loan companies of the time."
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On how regulatory policy has affected community banks:
"When you're looking for a culprit in the difficulties facing community banks, look directly at the regulators."
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On the finding that Fannie and Freddie would require a bailout in a severe recession:
"Congress created this problem. Using the GSEs as a scapegoat is the political thing to do."
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