'The Big Guys Spend the Money, We Copy It': The Week's Best Quotes

January 14, 2014 9:02 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 banks that have left the mortgage business in response to the qualified mortgage rule:

"I think some banks have bailed out too soon. They are just looking at QM and saying enough is enough."

L. T. "Tom" Hall, president of Resurgent Performance

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On why he won't comment on whether JPMorgan (JPM) needs new management:

"I have enough trouble doing my own job."

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York

(Image: Bloomberg News)

On a recent Los Angeles Times article that depicted Wells Fargo (WFC) pushing customers into unnecessary, fee-laden products:

"Maybe if the paper was a little better at sales tactics itself it wouldn't be in an industry on the verge of collapse."

Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at Aite Group

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On the tech strategy at Rockville Bank, a $2.2 billion-asset lender in Connecticut:

"We want the big guys to spend the money and figure out what works and what doesn't, and then we want to copy it."

Bill Crawford, Rockville CEO

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On why banks should emphasize either cost cuts or growth, not both:

"It's very tough to sell the message that you are growing and you are cutting. Which is it?"

Fritz Nauck, director at McKinsey & Co.

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On his bank's response to the qualified-mortgage rule:

"We talked about only doing QM loans, and we decided within eight minutes that we are going to do non-QM loans."

Robert Messer, chief financial officer for American National Bank of Texas in Dallas

Why JPMorgan ATMs now display happy birthday messages for their customers:

"We felt that if we did a better job of delighting our customers they would stick around longer."

Emmett Vollenweider, chief administration officer for consumer and community banking at JPMorgan Chase

On the uncertainty around how strictly regulators plan to assess banks' living wills:

"The proof of the pudding will not be in the eating but in whether the Federal Reserve and the FDIC think they've been properly baked."

H. Rodgin Cohen, senior chairman at Sullivan & Cromwell

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On why the defection of a group of loan officers to a rival was a wake-up call for Old National Bancorp (ONB):

"Maybe we needed a little kick in the butt, too, that says don't make yourself too complacent and don't think you're better than you are and make sure you keep these revenue drivers."

Bob Jones, president and CEO of Old National

On why M&A buyers should be wary of announcing plans to cut costs when they make a purchase:

"You take the risk of rocking the boat. You put some big grand cost-cutting initiative out there, that's going to affect the culture."

John Rodis, an analyst at FIG Partners

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On what U.S. Bancorp's (USB) deal for nearly 100 Chicago branches means for big-bank M&A:

"You have the gold standard of the industry doing a very small and special transaction, but any deal is better than what we've seen."

R. Scott Siefers, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill

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