Freddie Outrage, Advantage Foreigners, School for Bankers: Quotes of the Week

June 4, 2013 10:40 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.

(Image: Shutterstock)

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network head Jennifer Shasky Calvery on digital currency providers:

"Digital currencies are just a financial service and those who deal in them are a financial institution. Any financial institution and any financial service could potentially pose a [anti-money laundering] threat."

On Freddie Mac's decision to start charging a 'low-activity fee' to small banks that sell it less than $5 million worth of mortgages annually:

"To say that we're outraged is an understatement. We're very upset about this because if you have a small servicing portfolio, you're between a rock and a hard place."

Ron Haynie, senior vice president of mortgage finance policy at the Independent Community Bankers of America

(Image: Thinkstock)

On the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's revision of mortgage rules to incorporate banking industry comments:

"Not everything the industry asked for is bad. We really think they [CFPB] struck a good balance between a safeguard for consumers and not needlessly pointing at the banks."

Kathleen Day of the Center for Responsible Lending

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On the results of a survey on checking account disclosures:

"What we found is they're [disclosures] long and dense and they're hard to read and they're complicated, and we think there certainly is a way for CFPB to take action to make sure these things are clearer."

Susan Weinstock, director of Pew's Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project.

(Image: Thinkstock)

On how Wilbur Ross-backed Talmer Bancorp has changed Michigan's M&A environment:

"Chemical [Financial] has been a force in M&A over the past 12 to 15 years, but Talmer is emerging as a force to be reckoned with, too."

John Donnelly, managing director of Donnelly Penman & Partners

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On the sale of City National Bank of Florida by Spain's Bankia to Banco de Credito e Inversiones:

"The regulatory environment is tough, but the 'yes, but' aspect is that the Fed likely wants this bank to be owned by a stronger hand than a troubled regional bank from Spain."

Jeff Davis, managing director of the financial institutions group at Mercer Capital

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On why foreign banks have more time than their U.S. counterparts to make their investments pay off:

"A five- or six-year payback period [on an acquisition] is not an issue for the international banks If the U.S. banks did that, the analysts would kill them."

Dave Seleski, president and chief executive at Stonegate Bank in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Related Article: Miami Poised to Become Hotbed of M&A

FirstAltantic Bank CEO Mitch Hunt on why his bank scaled back its construction lending:

"The best lesson we learned is that if the world changes then you need to change as well. You can't force a strategy the economy won't give you."

Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) Chief Executive Ronald Paul expressing frustration that proxy-advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) may have made mathematical errors when it assessed the company's executive compensation plan:

"If anybody had spent 10 seconds looking at the proxy, they would see that [our] proxy numbers are different from the ISS numbers. ISS should have asked why their numbers were different."

Former Bank of America (BAC) CEO Hugh McColl on a program he's helping build at a North Carolina university that will train students to work at community banks:

"Big banks ... can attract the graduates from large business schools and train them the way they want them to be trained. Small banks have more difficulty training people."

(Image: Bloomberg News)

Sen. Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, on why he's using Instigram to communicate with constituents:

"Like other social media platforms, Instagram will allow Idahoans to connect with me on a more personal level and follow my day-to-day actions representing them in the U.S. Senate."

(Image: Bloomberg News)