'Mindless Logic of the Shark': Comments of the Week
March 11, 2016 7:30 AM
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.
Disagreeing with a BankThink contributor's argument that banks must make enough return on their capital to attract investors:
"It is hard to see this as anything other than the mindless logic of the shark it must eat and grow on an endless quest toward unlimited growth and market domination until the financial universe ends in some sort of fiscal heat death."
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In response to a report that found, among other things, small businesses aren't satisfied with their online lenders:
"The truth is that if you are a marginal business you are more likely to get credit on less desirable terms if you can get it at all. Borrowers shouldn't be expected to be 'happy' about it, but that isn't necessarily the lender's fault."
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On small business being unhappy with online loan terms:
"The relevant comparison is whether the online borrowers were more or less happy than the alternative which was getting no loan at all. If you asked me if I was satisfied paying 50% interest, I'd always say no. If you asked me if I preferred paying 50% interest to going out of business, I'd say yes."
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A commenter casting doubt on an op-ed arguing that blockchain could someday replace Swift:
"Call us when you find a viable business model that all consumers can 1) understand and 2) trust. Till then
"
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On the question of whether big banks are necessary:
"Megabanks bring diseconomies of scale in that they impose a social cost on us financial crises. They do more to evade risk, liquidity and capital regulations than any other financial entities. They aren't necessary to the economy, in that smaller banks and other entities acting as groups can do the same things."
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On the pitfalls banks can encounter when using interactive video tellers:
"All of these 'mistakes' speak to the interests of the bank, and ignore the interests of the customer. (e.g., take away the option that they prefer so that they have no choice but to use the option the bank prefers.) The singular mistake is deploying video tellers at all."
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