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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 a tough new policy proposed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under which banks would be graded on how many defective mortgages they sell to the GSEs:

"Our expectation is zero defects."

— Steve Spies, a vice president of loan quality and lender assessment at Fannie Mae

Related Article: Fannie and Freddie Aim for Mortgages with 'Zero Defects'

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On concerns that a handful of overpaying buyers could set the market for bank M&A:

"The biggest fear of bankers is the stupidity of bankers."

— John W. Allison, chief executive of Home BancShares (HOMB) in Conway, Ark.

Related Article: Leading Buyers Warn about Bank M&A Pitfalls

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On what banks should do once they grow past the $10 billion-asset mark:

"If you're going to 10, you can't stop. You gotta go to 20."

— David Zalman, CEO of Prosperity Bancshares (PB) in Houston

Related Article: Leading Buyers Warn about Bank M&A Pitfalls

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On the lessons of the fines and enforcement actions issued against JPMorgan (JPM) last week:

"Don't embarrass the regulators and don't hide things from the regulators."

— Edward Mills, a policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets

Related Article: Six Lessons from JPMorgan's Terrible Thursday

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On East West Bancorp's (EWBC) deal to acquire MetroCorp Bancshares (MCBI) in Houston, a city where East West has one branch:

"This is easier than adding one branch at a time. We can't wait five years to expand in Texas."

— Dominic Ng, chairman/CEO, East West Bancorp

Related Article: East West in California Making Major Move in Texas

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On how Midland States Bancorp's deal to buy Heartland Bank in St. Louis would accelerate its effort to increase fee revenue:

"We could have done it on our own, but it would take us 20 years."

— Leon Holschbach, CEO of Midland States Bancorp in Effingham, Ill.

Related Article: Small Bank to Rebalance Revenue through M&A

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On how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage rule will change the industry:

"If you're dabbling in the mortgage business, you can't be a dabbler anymore."

— Jim Adkins, managing member of Artisan Advisors, a consultancy

Related Article: How Banks Can Prepare for QM Rules Despite Tech Delays

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Criticizing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for discouraging banks from doing business with online lenders, even those that follow the law:

"I don't think that targeting a particular industry for extinction is the FDIC's job."

— Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.

Related Article: Is FDIC Waging a Stealth Crackdown on Online Lenders?

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Explaining why Simplicity Bancorp (SMPL) in California decided to bring mortgage servicing work in-house:

"We had a big issue with the collection efforts. [Servicers] were just not collecting."

— Dustin Luton, president/CEO, Simplicity Bancorp

Related Article: California Thrift Reaping Benefits of In-House Servicing

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