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'It's time to move on': Comments of the week

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.
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A reader objects to an argument on how an "America First" trade policy harms U.S. banks:

"There is no scenario under which an 'America First' policy is a bad thing."

Related article: Why 'America First' is bad for American Bankers
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On the differences between community banks and big banks like Wells Fargo:

“You can't establish a sales quota for long held, mutually beneficial customer relationships!”

Related article: Distrust of large institutions makes this the year of the community bank
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Taking issue with statistics showing white men have better business credit options than women or minorities:

"It's time to move on from repeating percentages without evaluating the creditworthiness of the applicant. There's no mention of comparing similarly situated white applicants with minority/female applicants."

Related article: Small-business lending has a diversity problem
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Another reader objects to gender or ethnicity being a factor in credit decisions:

“I don't know of anybody in the banking industry who even looks at the sex or race on the application. Banks are in the business to make good loans, that is how they make money and as you might imagine, Banks want to make money. If you had two equally qualified individuals who applied and one was denied based on ANY of the protected categories that bank would be sued and be all over the news. The inconvenient truth is that there is a higher percentage of women and minorities who have poor credit. End of story.”

Related article: Small-business lending has a diversity problem
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On a California regulator acknowledging the limitations of state-by-state licensing for fintechs (via <a href="https://twitter.com/LendAcademy/status/831858629649235968" target="_blank">Twitter</a>):

"I have been saying this for years. The states licensing system is horrible. Calif. regulator agrees"

Related article: California regulator acknowledges legitimate criticisms of state licensing
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On the Trump administration indicating plans to roll back much of Dodd-Frank:

"History has proven time and time again that the banking industry as a whole cannot adequately regulate itself. Why do we believe this time will be any different?"

Related article: Plans to ease big bank rules ignore lessons of the crisis
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On the internet businesses that New York State seeks to subject to licensing requirements (via <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueMeanie4/status/832345148801552384" target="_blank">Twitter</a>):

“why are we calling ‘lenders, brokers & cash advance’ companies #Fintech? a euphemism to deflect from a very old agenda.”

Related article: New York seeks to expand authority over fintechs
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