Comments of the Week
June 22, 2012 2:21 PM
On compliance costs:
"Five years ago, our bank had one [full-time employee who] was split between loan review, audit and compliance. Today that individual plus 1.5 additional FTE's are dedicated totally to compliance with another FTE strictly in audit. We are a small community bank of less than $300 million in assets and this additional payroll is significant in our budget." (Image: ThinkStock)
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On a small Texas bank suing to challenge the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank:
"Amen. Where can we send money to support this effort?" (Image: ThinkStock)
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On a small Texas bank suing to challenge the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank:
"Representation for the plaintiffs just happens to be former White House counsel. The institution bringing suit is too small to be affected by much of Dodd-Frank. Would somebody like to take the position that this baloney isn't driven by pure politics?" (C. Boyden Gray, the former White House counsel, Image: Bloomberg News)
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On risk management at JPMorgan:
"I have seen firsthand, in a large institution similar to JPMorgan, that predominantly these very intelligent people lack any practical experience in banking outside of their risk quant efforts. Add the presence of smart, aggressive traders [compensated] on profit and you always have a potential problem." (Image: ThinkStock)
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On risk management at JPMorgan:
"When chairmen of companies say their boards cannot be expected to understand the granularity of the risks a firm is taking; when CEOs say their regulator cannot be expected to see the kinds of risk that leads to catastrophic losses of the kinds just experienced; then I say something is horribly wrong with the risk management methods and systems the industry has developed." (Image: ThinkStock)
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On Jamie Dimon's House testimony:
"'It's about the ability of us to compete' sounds reminiscent of Chuck Prince's infamous line ('As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance'). Should prudent regulation and the safety of the financial system take a back seat to JPM's ability to compete (i.e., make money for its shareholders and management)?" (Image: Bloomberg News)
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On the London traders for JPMorgan's chief investment office:
"We need to think long and hard about allowing offshore trading desks that do not have the same rules as domestic desks." (Image: ThinkStock)
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On Jamie Dimon:
"Dimon is first and foremost an investment banker who … lusted with Sandy Weill in getting control of a regulated depository institution with cheap deposits to deploy into multiple diversification schemes and ultimately … risk taking with insured deposits. He is a great salesman but I don't believe for a minute he did not know what was going on until it went bad."
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On the CFPB's Public Complaint Database:
"This process as now defined reminds me of a trial where the plaintiff (complainant) is allowed to say anything they want to the jury as allowed by the judge (CFPB) and the defendant (financial institution) has to go whisper their full facts to the judge but are limited in their response to the jury." (Image: ThinkStock)
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