'This is child's play': Comments of the week

On the Office of the Comptroller’s removing its top examiner at Wells Fargo:

“This is child's play in comparison to the rotating door of incompetent Examiner-In-Charge(s) who have served at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the equally incompetent direction of FHFA ‘leadership’ and at the beckoning of Board members and the senior management teams of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In dollar volume of assets, these two institutions represent more than half of what the OCC has under its supervision.”

Related article:

OCC said to remove top Wells Fargo examiner

On Scottrade Bank’s data breach underscoring third-party vendor risks:

“BAM! I think you touched on one of the reason's we don't have more data sharing between vendors and FIs; and from vendor to vendor. The only way we can advance the industry and customer experience is if we are 1) open to how data can be used and 2) how the exchange of information is rock solid. Reputation is an asset that should be protected...at all costs.”

Related article:

Scottrade Bank’s breach underlines third-party vendor risk

On the contradictory nature of know-your-customer rules existing alongside state laws that still allow anonymous beneficial corporate ownership:

“I hate to think of giving the federal government any more authority but this might be an area where I would compromise. Either the states must capture the ownership information during the entity application process or the Feds need to rescind the beneficial ownership/Customer Due Diligence mandate. Otherwise banks just have to take the customers word for it which doesn't do anyone any favors.”

Related article:

State incorporation laws: Good for crooks, bad for banks

On the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis viewing “too-big-to-fail” as a still-persistent problem:

“No, Neel Kashkari is wrong about the US banking system and JPM CEO Jamie Dimon is right. US banks are in far better shape than before the crisis. More, no amount of capital will protect you from the true cause of the 2008 crisis, namely securities fraud. The focus on more and more capital for banks is misplaced and is hurting economic growth. If we simply enforce the existing rules on securities fraud, investors would be protected and too-big to fail would cease to be an issue.

Related article:

Fed’s Kashkari: Dimon ‘demonstrably’ wrong on TBTF, bank capital

On the mounting challenges related to student debt:

“Another issue is that a student's financial assistance is being set based on their parents’ income, while the student, not the parent, is the one taking out the loan. It is backward to allow for an 18 year old to take out large debt when they can't drink a beer legally. We need to encourage young people to delay school until they can afford it, and college is not for everyone. We need to remove the stigma of pursuing other blue collar work that pays well and is currently under serviced.”

Related article:

More evidence that rising student debt is bad for banks

On efforts by Wells Fargo’s Mary Mack to change the culture in the bank’s branch network:

“The idea that a bank model has to be either a 'sales' or a 'service' culture is terribly flawed. As consumers, we expect to access service AND have new products and services presented to us from the stores we access for our financial services solutions.”

Related article:

Wells Fargo’s Mary Mack on driving culture change