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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 from our social media platforms.

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On Sen. Elizabeth Warren's criticism of SEC Chairman Mary Jo White for recusing herself from cases, leading to deadlocked commission votes that prevent prosecutions from going forward:

"Senator Warren's zeal to throw more people into the Bastille has led her to criticize the SEC Chairman for … recusing herself where there might be the appearance of conflict of interest. The criticism seems to be that it is somehow quite 'damaging' when the SEC cannot throw the book at people in cases that convince only two of the SEC commissioners. … Running over due process will indeed create real damage. We should choose due process over the anger of the people wearing Phrygian caps."

Related Article: Warren Slams SEC's White Over Dodd-Frank, Enforcement

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On White's recusals in dozens of cases since she joined the SEC due to her previous work at a law firm and her husband's ongoing work at another firm:

"If Chair White and her husband are this conflicted perhaps we need a new chair…one that does not work at cross-purposes with the criminal enforcement authorities."

Related Article: Warren Slams SEC's White Over Dodd-Frank, Enforcement

Image: Bloomberg News

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On a FICO executive's criticism of a competitor's new approach to credit scoring:

"Oh my goodness; how could a banker ever make a decision without FICO? The world is coming to an end. It is just impossible to do underwriting w/o their help. NOT!"

Related Article: Using Unreliable Data Won't Help Credit Invisibles

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On JPMorgan Chase eliminating voicemail for employees at its consumer bank:

"Too bad they didn't cut off voice mail and email for FX traders. They could have saved hundreds of millions."

Related Article: JPMorgan Kills Voice Mail

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On banks' attempts to harness Bitcoin's blockchain technology without using the digital currency:

"The Bitcoin tokens are given away as an incentive for bitcoin miners to process the transactions and maintain the decentralized ledger. If you give the tokens to bank employees only there is no incentive for random people to use their resources to maintain and secure a blockchain for some random bank. … You also lose the decentralization too which is the main point of the blockchain. If it is just the bank mining then they are really running a centralized database, not a decentralized system and they don't need a blockchain."

Related Article: Why Banks Are Testing Bitcoin's Blockchain (Without Bitcoin)

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Questioning recommendations to cut branch hours and staffing:

"Two misguided, self-defeating notions in banking: banks can save their way to prosperity, and banking is not a 'people business.'"

Related Article: Where Banks' Cost-Cutting Calculations Go Wrong

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Looking at the bright side of banks' failure to make creative use of their troves of customer data (<a href="https://twitter.com/rw_ny/status/605818308768591873?refsrc=email&s=11" target="_blank">via Twitter</a>):

"This may actually not be a bad thing for customers"

Related Article: New Banking App Aims for the Instagram Set

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Agreeing with a warning about the dangers of Big Data (<a href="https://twitter.com/rw_ny/status/605818308768591873?refsrc=email&s=11" target="_blank">via Twitter</a>):

"We're close to emergent superintelligence. Very close. Distributed genetic algorithms + [digital signal processing] + …"

Related Article: With Big Data Comes Big Responsibility

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On a report that found banks together collect $10 billion in overdraft fees (<a href="https://twitter.com/doomlaser/status/606140021092065280?refsrc=email&s=11" target="_blank">via Twitter</a>):

"They wonder why there is a CFPB?"

Related Article: Banks' Reliance on Overdraft Fees Varies Widely, Data Shows

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On the mortgage industry's headaches preparing to deliver new required consumer disclosures starting Aug. 1:

"Too bad the lending community refused to back the RESPA rule in 2003 that would have allowed them to offer a single fee guaranteed price mortgage. This CFPB rule and all the costs and litigation it is going to produce would not have been necessary. Consumers should be able to negotiate a single fee for processing and closing a mortgage and then you would need 5 lines on a disclosure document instead of 100 that are all subject to human and computer error."

Pictured: Former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez, architect of the single-fee plan.

Related Article: Five Headaches Facing Lenders as Mortgage Disclosure Deadline Nears

Image: Bloomberg News

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On criticisms of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's wealth:

"Dimon has been a very effective leader of one of the largest, most profitable companies in the world. His shareholders have been duly rewarded by the company's performance. If anyone has a problem with the fact he has personally become wealthy doing that, it says more about them than Dimon."

Related Article: Jamie Dimon Is Now a Billionaire, and He Got There in an Unusual Way

Image: Bloomberg News

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