The Week's Best Quotes: Survival of the Branch, Loose Credit Standards

Published March 19, 2013 10:37 AM

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Updated March 19, 2013 11:27 AM

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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. (Image: Fotolia)

On the Federal Reserve's rejection of BB&T's (BBT) capital plan:

"You have to wonder if they just pick a bank they want to make an example of. It is a way to poke the bear and say, 'You're not getting away from us yet.'"

- Marty Mosby, analyst at Guggenheim Securities

(Image: Thinkstock)

On the possibility that further scandals could force the breakup of big banks:

"I think we're one major misstep away from that."

- Harris Simmons, Zions Bancorp chairman and CEO

(Image: Michael Chu)

On whether 'too big to fail' still needs to be addressed:

"I think Dodd-Frank got it right, solved that issue."

- John Stumpf, Wells Fargo CEO

On the visits he made to visit JPMorgan Chase (JPM) regional branch managers with CEO Jamie Dimon:

"Maybe we'll give them a beer or two, and they'll loosen up, because Jamie can be a little intimidating sometimes. And then they'll start gushing about all this stuff that's broken."

- Ryan McInerney, CEO of JPMorgan Chase's consumer bank

On what it would take to make a convincing case that bank branches have a bright future:

"If hipsters in Brooklyn start using checks to pay each other, that would change my mind."

- Kevin Travis, a partner at Novantas

(Image: Thinkstock)

On whether customers will pay for mobile check deposit:

"If I charged you some money for that, 25 cents, would you still do it rather than go stand in a teller line? I would."

- Bill Demchak, president of PNC Financial Services

On fears that banks are again excessively loosening credit standards:

"It seems like we are almost our own worst enemies. As soon as we clean up our credit, we go back to being aggressive again."

- Thomas Combs, president and chief executive of Union Bank & Trust in Oxford, N.C.

(Image: Thinkstock)

On the decision to aggressively sell off his bank's bad loans:

"We had spent a lot of time in a business we weren't good at - foreclosing on loans and disposing assets. It had consumed us, so it made a lot of sense to figure out how to put that behind us."

- Richard Moore, CEO, First Bancorp in N.C.

On why the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has begun to focus more closely on banks' business plans:

"Banks are feeling pretty good right now; they are out of the crisis. But we still need to make sure you have good corporate governance and credit underwriting."

- Bert Otto, deputy comptroller for the OCC's central district

(Image: Thinkstock)

On regulators' increasing concern with how banks absorb new acquisitions:

"Regulators… want to know acquisitions are going to be planned with discipline and rigor."

- Paul Legere, a principal with Deloitte Consulting

(Image: Thinkstock)