Lawsky's Power Grab, Kanas' N.Y. Invasion, M&A Envy: Week's Best Quotes

June 25, 2013 9:59 AM

The most notable quotes from American Banker stories of the previous week. Readers are encouraged to add their own observations in the Comments fields at the bottom of each slide.

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On New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky's aggressiveness and fine of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services:

Lawsky is "one of those truly dangerous people who actually believes in what he's doing."

Ross S. Delston, a former assistant general counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

(Image: Bloomberg News)

On how New York's Deloitte crackdown will affect the industry:

"My instinct is that this will be a year or so in which prospective consulting arrangements for proxy supervision will be very carefully drawn."

Karen Shaw Petrou, a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics Inc.

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On why more Virginia banks are likely to sell following several recent in-state merger announcements:

"When a bank gets sold in a particular market there are always repercussions. There's always someone who is afraid that they missed an opportunity to sell. And there's always someone who didn't get the acquisition they wanted who becomes more eager to find one. "

Ken Lehman, bank investor

Related Article: More Bank M&A On the Way in Virginia

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On why banks considering an acquisition should act soon:

"We think there is about a two-year window where we can make sense of the prices."

Lynn Fuller, the chairman and CEO of Heartland Financial USA (HTLF) in Dubuque, Iowa

On allowing front-line workers considerable autonomy:

"Empowerment goes further than just the senior level at the branches. It goes into new accounts, the tellers and customer service."

Daniel Walker, chief executive Farmers & Merchants in California

On the threat that BankUnited poses to New York-area rivals via its push into the region:

"We don't really see them today as a peer."

Greg Braca, head of corporate and specialty banking at TD Bank, which is also expanding in New York.

(Image: Bloomberg News)

On Republic First's (FRBK) bid to rekindle a merger with Metro Bancorp (METR), whose signage it briefly displayed before a previous merger bid failed:

"Maybe they have those signs still in storage."

Jeff Marsico, executive vice president of the Kafafian Group

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On how a debit surcharge ban passed in Texas this month resembles Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment, which capped some card interchange fees:

"This is the irrationality of the Durbin price control. It breeds more price control, because unintended consequences occur."

Kenneth Clayton, chief counsel at the American Bankers Association

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On a report that four of the five banks are in violation of last year's national mortgage settlement:

"There continues to be a fairly large gap between what the [settlement] monitor is reporting and what borrowers and housing counselors are experiencing on the ground."

Kevin Stein, associate director of the California Reinvestment Coalition

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On a settlement provision that lets servicers foreclose on borrowers who have begun, but not completed, loan modifications:

"We have a broken process. In the negotiating room, the servicers said they would pause a foreclosure when an application was complete, which seems very reasonable. But the process of getting to a complete application is very onerous."

Katherine Porter, a University of California-Irvine law professor and monitor of the the settlement for the state of California.