Copyright: | (c) 2010 SourceMedia Inc , Source: The Financial Times Limited |
Source: | Financial Times Limited |
Wordcount: | 3108 |
“The key lesson here is ‘never again.’ We can never again get our company or our industry in this position.”
“There is a real sense that this is a moment in time where with these abuses, to not act would be a huge mistake. With the kind of mistakes that were made, to somehow say the status quo is acceptable just doesn’t cut it.”
Sen.
“I came to the conclusion that, in the long sweep of American history, there are moments for each elected public servant to step aside and let someone else step up. This is my moment to step aside.”
“Let me see if I got this straight: The only people who have fully recovered from the financial meltdown are the ones who caused the financial meltdown.”
“It was hard to show why my free checking was better than your free checking. At the end of the day, price becomes an issue in the absence of value. If you provide the value, people will pay the price.”
“My resolve to reform the system is only strengthened when I see a return to old practices at some of the very firms fighting reform.”
“We’ve been very fortunate that our balance sheet has been strong, so we’ve been very offensive in the market. We’ve had very good success building relationships with really good larger companies, where we were just never in consideration before.”
“I have grave concerns that the
Rep.
“We cannot let them win this fight. If the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back.”
“Some people worry about competition, I say we are living in America, not
“It’s hard for me to understand why, in the face of a crisis that was so complex and covered so many markets and institutions, you would want to take out of the regulatory system the one institution that has the full breadth and range of those skills to address those issues.”
“I was incredulous. After all the Fed bashing we’ve heard? The Fed’s such a weak engine, so let’s give them consumer protection? It’s almost a bad joke. I was very disappointed.”
“We were at the 5-yard line, and suddenly the lights went out.”
Sen. Corker, after Dodd abruptly broke off negotiations with him over regulatory reform,
“Our actions today will not be the last against a Tarp applicant. You will be tracked down, you will be caught and you will be brought to justice.”
“The legislation I present today contains bipartisan ideas and is the result of a bipartisan effort. It does not as of yet enjoy bipartisan support.”
Sen. Dodd, on introduction of his regulatory reform bill,
“We barely survived.”
“When you ask what makes an effective supervisory system, there is not much material to look at.”
“A cascading effect will result as state banking departments lose their largest fee-providing banks and are forced to make up the difference by raising fees on the smaller banks, thus incentivizing even more charter-flipping.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the financial crisis has had such a devastating impact on our country. I’m sorry for the millions of people, average Americans, who have lost their homes. And I’m sorry that our management team starting with me, like so many others, could not see the unprecedented market collapse that laid before us.”
“It just seems to me at the end of the day the two of you in charge of this organization did not have a grip on what was happening. I don’t know that you can have it two ways. You were either pulling the levers or were asleep at the switch.”
“We have recently seen some badly misinformed criticisms of the legislative reforms that appear to have no other purpose than to obfuscate the issues and delay enactment.”
“Just real quickly, let’s all not call it a bank fee and call it what it is – which is a punitive bank tax.”
“About the only time
Sen.
“As director of the agency, I never felt beholden to ‘preserve’ Wamu or any other chartered entity under our supervision for the purpose of preserving
“We’ve seen misleading arguments and attacks designed not to improve the bill but to weaken or kill it. And we’ve seen a bipartisan process buckle under the weight of these withering forces, even as we have produced a proposal that is by all accounts a common-sense, reasonable, nonideological approach to target the root problems that led to the turmoil in our financial sector.”
“We are asking all USAA members and employees to urge their U.S. senators to amend a portion of the bill, known as the Volcker Rule, to eliminate its effect on a company like USAA.”
“You didn’t tell them you thought it was a ‘shitty deal’? You knew it was a ‘shitty deal.’ … Should Goldman Sachs be trying to sell a ‘shitty deal’?”
Sen. Levin,
“Instead of working on something – trying to improve my customer experience or enhance my delivery channel – I’m focused on CARD Act, I’m focused on Reg E, I’m focused on all the regulatory changes. It’s a huge wild card, and it makes it a pain to do technology planning both for the client and the vendor.”
“If they need shampoo and toilet paper, there’s an aisle for them. When they need money services, we’re going to have that location in the store available to solve those problems for that consumer as well.”
“Lest you think that it will provide more clarity, it will not. It will simply create the next level of uncertainty. So we’ll deal with it, we’ll handle it – we can handle anything – but we’re not looking forward to it.”
“I worked for years at money centers who try to pretend to be local and community, and they really aren’t.”
“The real risk is somebody handing you the keys back, because at the end of the day we don’t want the assets.”
“In
“I used to say that all the notes were in the box next to the Ark of the Covenant.”
James Kowalski Jr., a
“The nonbank sector was about half of the finance industry pie when you added it all up. Much of that is gone – that is a lot of pie for the rest of us.”
“My great fear is that we’ve all died and this is our purgatory. We are going to spend the rest of our lives here in conference.”
Sen. Dodd,
“We’ve let our excitement get the best of us and have released parts of Square before they were fully baked.”
“You’re playing for the Yankees, and it doesn’t matter if it’s shortstop or third base.”
“I am writing you to express my strong opposition to the
Sen.
“The reserve ratio needs to be increased. A further increase to 1.35% is consistent with our view that the fund should be built up in good economic times and be allowed to fall in poor economic times.”
“There’s a big omission here in the reform bill. There is nothing in there, not one word, about the GSEs – Fannie [Mae] and Freddie [Mac]. And if you would ask any American they would say housing was, if not the epicenter of what happened, very close to it. And who are two biggest players there? Fannie and Freddie.”
“I know it’s drastic but drastic times call for drastic measures and I just can’t wait.”
“These are just pressure-cooker jobs. At some point, you need to move on. … What I would like to do is to stay active and concentrate on individual issues rather than having to deal with a new issue every five minutes, which is the nature of the current job.”
“Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for
“They are almost being set up for failure. Their job is to get ahead of any systemic risk to occur. So if anything does get by them, they are set up to be blamed.”
“The toughest for me is always the people. We expanded too much. … When you try to go to bed at night, that’s what weighs on you. It’s the human cost of all these things that [is] painful.”
“I don’t see us growing domestic business in
“This is one time when I’m probably grateful for not having had the highest market share of debit in
“You can’t be an Internet payment company without being a mobile payment company.”
“We are arguing we should create an
“Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, giddy up. Sheriff Warren’s what we need, yo. Let me plead, yo. She’s not about the money and the green, no. She’s about working class families and bringing them out of financial crisis and tragedies.”
“It’s the mortgage industry’s
“The likelihood of a terrorist organization purchasing our brands’ plus-size-apparel gift cards, which can only be used to purchase women’s clothing and accessories, for laundering funds is remote if [not] nonexistent.”
“It’s got pizzazz and sex appeal, but the user experience isn’t all that hot.”
“The agreements reached today are a fundamental strengthening of global capital standards. Their contribution to long-term financial stability and growth will be substantial.”
“Each month we feel more traction with originations and we’re pushing on the string a little bit less, but overall demand remains weak.”
“We’re going to earn it all back – whatever it is.”
Dimon of
“Getting this agency off the ground will be an enormously important task … and that task is something I’ve asked Elizabeth to take on. Secretary Geithner and I agree Elizabeth is the best person to stand this agency up.”
“There’s no question from anybody in leadership. When everyone’s present, they’re saying, ‘You are going to be the next chairman.’ “
Rep.
“We don’t have population growth in any of our markets. We’re … growing from taking share from other banks.”
“With this broader data source, for the first time Fincen will have the ability for the government to essentially create baselines of what is normal activity when you are talking about funds flows between
“If we use this moment to rethink our approach to regulating financial services, then we can seize the opportunity to do something unexpected – and exceptional.”
“I have to deliver on market share growth. I would prefer a more high-growth number for the economy. That would be very helpful.”
Bharat Masrani,
“If I was on a board and thought I was a token to get to the right ratio … I would feel marginalized. … I don’t think it would be healthy.”
“The big disincentive is the time it takes and a business model that’s running on speed – on Dexedrine.”
“Under
“I think we’re in the midst of a boom, frankly, or the early start of a boom in the merger market in the Northeast. This is a sign that deals beget deals.”
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