Banker Quotes As Told To Me v8

I learn a lot from bankers and industry experts as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Since I estimate my Twitter community only reads a fraction of their tweet stream, and so many of my blog readers do not follow Twitter, below are selected quotes that I tweeted since version 7.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote people anonymously to protect the innocent.

1.  Bank CFO: The amount of money I hear over $10B banks spend prepping for CFPB exams is ridiculous.

Soon we will forget that the CFPB was established so that bankers don't take advantage of borrowers that lacked common sense. It is morphing into what many were predicting, a bureaucratic black hole that will provide no societal benefit, just cost.

2.  Bank CEO: Regulatory risk weights are BS. It takes me three years to foreclose on a house. I could repossess a car in a week.

States think they are protecting borrowers by making it difficult for lenders to foreclose on the homes of borrowers that stop paying their mortgage. Who pays the increased cost? Think about it.

3. Bank CFO: Our commercial line of credit utilization rate is in the low 40% range.

One of the reasons that loan growth is not robust in an economic recovery.

4. Bank head of HR: Lack of writing skills is an epidemic. How do these people get degrees?

I double checked my grammar on this post. No guarantees though.

5. Bank retail exec: Customers interact with our website more than they interact with all of our branches combined.

My marketing friends know this. But what to do about it?

6. Bank retail exec: Customer retention in our closed branches was somewhere in the 90's.

If you could keep 90% of your customers when you close a branch, I wonder what math justifies keeping the expense? Perhaps if the branch is growing in a vibrant market, it would make sense. But in a mature market with little branch growth? Hmmm.

7. Bank CEO: Lending has forever changed when the borrower took the position "yeah I borrowed the money but it's not my fault."

People speak of going bankrupt in casual conversation. It used to be embarrassing. When walking away from debts, somebody does pay. 

8. Bank chief risk officer: We want to do the right thing (re mortgages), but with more than 1,600 pages of regs, we're not sure what right is.

The complexity in the mortgage market was primarily driven by Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is sending in the CFPB to fix it. Wonder how that will turn out?

9. Bank Chairman: There are no sacred cows except for the sacred cows.

Does self-interest slow down progress in community FIs?

10. Bank CEO: Moving forward, it's not business as usual, but business as planned.

So long as the plan works towards a competitive advantage.

11. Bank CEO: Your speech was good. Your wife is hot.

Was that faint praise for my speech?

12.  Me to bank exec: What do you do that you wish you didn't have to do? Exec: Talk to consultants. #ouch

It's the only way to end up in my blog.

13. Bank CEO: The more our bankers know how to run a bank, the more successful they will be because they understand the decisions made.

Communicating strategy through the ranks... what a great concept!

14. Bank director: A customer should have confidence that the banker sitting across the desk from them can get things done for them.

Are your bankers empowered to get things done for the customer? Or does a "no mistakes" unwritten policy make them call around the organization to make decisions?

15. Bank compliance officer to me: New lending regs have almost crippled us.

Didn't see that coming.

16. Bank CEO: Bigger isn't better. Better is better.

This CEO clearly needs to drink the investment bankers' Kool Aid.

17.  Me to bank director: I was so bad at picking bank stocks that my wife made me clear them through her. Director: And you're advising us?

Fair point.


What are you hearing out there?


~ Jeff

Banker Quotes: As Told to Me v7

I learn a lot from bankers and industry experts as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Since I estimate my Twitter community only reads about 10% of their tweet stream, and so many of my blog readers do not follow Twitter, below are selected quotes that I tweeted since version 6.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote people anonymously to protect the innocent.


1. Bank CEO: There was a time when everyone got a 3% raise no matter how well they did. I call them the union years.

It's difficult to motivate our people if we reward the average to below-average the same way as top performers. I also don't see a material difference between a 3% and a 4% raise. Do you?

2. Bank Director: Sales complaining about infrastructure is crap. Sales people have the tools. They don't have the disposition.

Sometimes reasons for not meeting expectations are excuses. Wisdom is knowing the difference between an obstacle and an excuse.


3. Bank CEO: If you throw a number out to our Board they'll swarm to it like piranha!

This is one reason why strategic plan projections look less like stretch goals and more like budgets. But if the bank places a present value on their strategic plan projections, should they be afraid of the answer?


4. Bank CFO to me: I believe the 30-year mortgage is unhedgeable.

What has the Federal Government done to the residential mortgage loan? They turned it into something imminently more complex than it needs to be from the borrowers perspective. And very difficult for bankers to put on their books. Without Uncle Sam's interference, I think a five-year, 30-year amortizing loan would be the norm, and everyone would understand it, and the cost to lend and therefore the cost to the borrower would be much lower.


5. Credit Union CEO: We're starting to rethink the centralized call center approach.

One reason often cited by customers for using branches is to solve problems. But phone calls to banks/ credit unions typically go to a centralized call center while branch lobbies are empty, denying the branch person of a sales opportunity.


6. Bank Exec: Any FI has access to their customer data. The real successful ones know how to analyze it and act on it.

Just be able to identify single service customers, have alerts for customer events such as large deposits (other than for compliance reasons), run queries for all customers by product type by Zip code... you know, common sense stuff that helps go-getters go and get.


7. Bank Exec to me: We talk to a lot of other bankers and nobody seems happy with their core processor.

How much of the market does Fiserv, FIS, and Jack Henry own?


8. Bank director to me: Advertising sells the first car, service sells the rest.

Guess what industry this director hails from?


9. Bank CFO: The FDIC is on a rising rate binge.

Examiners tend to have a theme when they come for their regular exam. This time around, the theme appears to be interest rate risk.


10. Bank CEO: We can't control who comes in our branches.

Then may I suggest downsizing branches, eliminating Marketing expense, and removing business development activities from job descriptions?


11. Me to bank retail head: Why bank with you? What is your value proposition? Banker: Stability.

That's the first time I heard this as a differentiator. But I believe it can be, especially if the bank across the street changed signs several times over the last decade, or there has been a high profile local bank failure.


12. Bank CEO on his future strategy: A few locations and tons of digital.

If your bank has few locations, embarking on an aggressive branching strategy doesn't seem to make sense, given rapidly changing customer delivery channel preferences.


13. Bank Director: We have to be careful cutting staff in branches, because with the lack of customers the branch might look too empty.

I can't make this stuff up.


14. Bank CEO: Jeff, I'm hoping for a boring banking environment before I retire.

To which my daughter, @shannonmarsico tweeted back to me: I thought boring banking environment was a given.


What are bankers telling you?


~ Jeff

Banker Quotes: As Told To Me v6

I learn a lot from bankers and industry experts as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Since I estimate my Twitter community only reads about 10% of their tweet stream, and so many of my blog readers do not follow Twitter, below are selected quotes that I tweeted since version 5.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote people anonymously to protect the innocent.

1. Me to bank CEO: How many customers left as a result of you consolidating a branch? CEO: 3.

If this bank's experience becomes typical, I see little reason to keep branches that have not proven to generate at least $25 million in deposits.

2. Bank CEO: Bloomberg says the duration of a 30 yr mortgage is 8-10 yrs. We think it's 29.5 years.

Not many borrowers will be running to refi their 3.5% mortgage any time soon.

3. Bank examiner: We're focusing on the interest rate risk from bankers reaching for yield.

Duly noted.

4. Bank Exec: The mortgage business only has a 30-day business plan.

Ever speak to the head of a mortgage origination shop? You wold be lucky to get them to think beyond the current pipeline.

5. Bank SVP: the mortgage lending business is like a shark. You have to keep swimming to breath.

And by the way, if Dodd-Frank tried to weed out bad actors in this market and put bankers back in the business, think again. D-F erected barriers to entry that makes it very difficult for your branch manager to talk to you about a mortgage.

6. Bank CEO: "You gotta have a dream. You may not realize it, but you gotta have one." Amen!

This is an emphatic statement about vision. Do you have a vision about where your FI is going that is clear, and resonates throughout the organization? This banker does.


7. Bank CEO: I get a lot of my financial industry updates from LinkedIn. 


Maybe social media is happening outside of the Marketing Department.

8. Bank branch construction firm CEO: The most common branch build remains 3,000-3,500 sq ft. Me: *sigh*

Old habits die hard. At least we won't have all the environmental problems that old closed down gas stations have when our branch is long empty and weeds are coming up through the parking lot cracks.

9. Bank CEO: Our current strategy is to satisfy the OCC.

What is the vision for your FI? Compliance? There's a sure thing for an enduring future. It should be noted that this bank was under a regulatory order.

10. CU Exec: We spend 30% of our time doing the right thing & 70% of our time documenting that we did the right thing.

How do you calculate that cost, Mr. Regulator?

11. Bank President: The government is intent on making banking a not for profit business. 

I thought the government was here to help?

12. Bank CEO: I'm currently a development loan workout specialist.

Two things to note here: 1) Development loans were the worst for most FI's during this recession, and 2) Lenders were generally terrible at working out their own credits.

13. Bank CEO: We do things better AND get better pricing.

I must admit I hit bankers hard on this issue in strategy sessions. I'm convinced Best Price & Best Service is not a sustainable business strategy.

14. Bank Analyst: The CEO is past the age where he should be home watching The Price Is Right.

This is a legitimate industry challenge. CEO's that hang on well past retirement age may think that there is nobody to do it as well as they did. Which is unfortunate. Because we need future leaders to do it differently.

15. NJ Banker and West Pointer Norm Beatty quotes Stonewall Jackson: "Never take counsel of your fear."

Amen Norm. Bring on the change!

What are you hearing out there?

~ Jeff

Note: To get banker/industry quotes as I hear them, follow me on Twitter @JeffMarsico

Banker Quotes: As Told To Me v5

I learn a lot from bankers and industry experts as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Since I estimate my Twitter community only reads about 10% of their tweet stream, and so many of my blog readers do not follow Twitter, below are selected quotes that I tweeted since version 4.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote people anonymously to protect the innocent.

1. Bank CFO to me: Whistling by the graveyard is the best of bad choices when looking at our parked deposits.

In the third quarter 2008, the average money market account had a balance of $72,823. Scroll forward to 3Q 2012, the average balance ballooned to $112,060. Do you think your duration assumptions should change?

2. Bank consultant: If the house is on fire, don't expect credit for finishing the basement.

Regulators will focus on the fire. Your carpeting job in the basement doesn't matter.

3. Car salesman to me: 98-99% of my 2012 sales were financed.

And auto loans performed well during the most recent recession. I suppose the saying is true: You can sleep in your car but you can't drive your house.

4. Bank CEO to me: A great relationship might get you 25bps on a loan. Covenants can get you another 25-50.

Skeptical. I would like to see this in action. So those with great relationships don't discount the price to "get the deal done?"

5. Bank institutional investor to me: "For banks to be relevant they should have 35% of revenue in fee income." Me: Profitable fee income?

Your level of fee income only matters if something drops to the bottom line. For many, the only thing left for the bank is the risk.

6. Bank CEO: We're feeling some [economic] recovery but why does it have to be so painfully slow?

It took US Bank two years to evict Kiss' Ace Frehley from his house after he stopped making payments and paying taxes. 

7. NJ Bank Exec: We have a handful of shore loans where we not only can't find the building, we can't find the land. #sandy

Real world problems.

8. Bank CEO: We need to fix our processes because I can't get the egg through the snake fast enough.

At a time of low loan demand, perhaps a process review is in order.

9. Bank consultant: If a regulator doesn't like your bank, there's always something they can find in Compliance. #tyranny

Unfortunately, true.

10. Retail Banking Exec: Until today retail deposit products were driven by the land of the free.

An industry self-inflicted wound. Agree?

11. Bank director: re-imagining the branch network will include complexity and drudgery. But it will be worth it.

I was surprised to hear this from a director. Usually, by change, bank director's mean switching to the tuna salad instead of the chicken salad.

12. Bank Chairman: In my business, getting something done quickly meant by Friday. In banking, it's in two or three years.

One reason: There are roadblocks to asking permission and penalties for begging forgiveness. But let's not forget the Sergeant's that run our bank that embrace change like my daughters embrace my opinion.

13. Bank CEO: We're doing so well because our competition is so bad. #classic

And many of you reading this are this bank's competition.

14. Bank Chief Risk Officer: Our biggest risk is regulatory grind. It is constantly wearing down our staff.

Let's not allow the final arbiter of our strategy to be the "no" person in compliance.

What are you hearing out there?

~ Jeff

Note: To get banker/industry quotes as I hear them, follow me on Twitter @JeffMarsico

Banker Quotes: As Told to Me v4

I learn a lot from bankers and industry experts as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Since I estimate my Twitter community only reads about 10% of their tweet stream, and so many of my blog readers do not follow Twitter, below are selected quotes that I tweeted since version 3.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote bankers anonymously to protect the innocent.

1. Bank Senior Lender on branch traffic: It's like groundhog day. They see the same people every week.

In addition to declining branch transactions, in-branch sales opportunities are pressured by the above reality.

2. ALCO Consultant: If your bank is making loans, forget about retail and fund with an FHLB advance.

Sad but true that the combination of operating expense and interest expense to generate retail deposits exceeds the cost of getting on the phone and calling your FHLB. But does it make your bank more valuable? In lieu of Hudson City Savings Bank sale price, I’m not so sure.

3. Me to bank credit consultant: What's the best leading indicator of a loan problem? Consultant: The borrower doesn't return your call.

How do you fit that square peg in your ERM round hole?

4. Bank chairman to me: It's difficult to have vision when you're fighting alligators.

This short-term thinking may be a key driver in future consolidation… community FIs with no vision for a sustainable future.

5. Bank chief credit officer relaying to me an OCC comment: "We haven't issued an asset quality upgrade in quite some time."

This is a telling statement since industry credit metrics have been improving for at least a year.

6. Bank exec to me: The public is starting to come around that community banks do not have to be thrown under the bus like big banks.

Thank you, public.

7. Bank CEO: That bad loan is in Seaside Hts. Me: Maybe it's Snooki. CEO: You know she's pregnant.

Who says bankers are out of touch?

8. Bank chairman to me: It would be interesting to know our branch's profitability.

Do you think?

9. Me to Chief Credit Officer/CCO: Isn't having a 3% delinquency rate on a 7% yield portfolio OK? CCO: The 7% thing would never happen.

Sad, but true. If you can’t get the yield for the risk, perhaps you should let the next guy/gal do the loan.

10. Bank retail chief: Saying customer service is our differentiator is a 'me too' position.

You mean everybody doesn’t have superior customer service?

11. Bank CEO: I think 4 FTE's is the right number for future branches.

Note that he was thinking out loud in a session designed to improve branch profitability.

12.  Bank CEO: My most demanding job is playing pen pal with my examiners.

To say that we have been forced to engage in flattery with our regulators is an understatement.

13. Bank loan consultant: There is too little a difference on yields between the best and worst rated credits in bank loan portfolios.

See my comment on getting paid for risk.

14. Bank consultant: Your strategic plan projections should drill down to a value proposition.

Agreed! Your plan should deliver increasing shareholder value, discounting projected earnings to present day value.

15. Bank examiner: When evaluating an acquisition, assume that every loan portfolio is worse than you think it is.

Told to a CEO who relayed it to me... and perhaps the Day 1 loan mark will be worse than you estimated.

16. Senior lender to me: Does it make sense to have my lenders calling on businesses for operating accounts when we are so liquid?

My answer was to hunt when the hunting is good, not when you’re hungry.

17. Me: Maybe Dodd-Frank will result in reduced compliance costs because CFPB streamlines regs. Bank CEO: That's not going to happen.

But the Treasury Department said it was going to happen.

What are bankers telling you?

~ Jeff

Banker Quotes: As Told to Me v3

I learn a lot from bankers as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Since I estimate my Twitter community only reads about 10% of their tweet stream, and so many of my blog readers do not follow Twitter, below are selected quotes that I tweeted so far this year.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote bankers anonymously to protect the innocent.

@JeffMarsico Bank head of branches: "All I need is time to sell, new shoes, and business cards."

jfb note: There are a lot of vendors out there selling the newest sales widget. But when it gets down to it, this banker gets to the heart of the matter. While typing this post, my bank called me from the local branch to tell me about their home equity lines! Third time my bank has called me in 16 years. Progress! But read the next quote.

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO: "People work at banks because they don't like to sell. It's how it has always been and still is."

jfb note: I think it is changing, though.



@JeffMarsico Bank Chief Risk Officer: "Not sure if ERM (enterprise-wide risk mgt) is theory or theology."

jfb note: Surprised that this came from the Chief Risk Officer because they are usually preaching the virtues of checking on the checkers that are checking on revenue generating bank activity. See my comments on ERM here.

@JeffMarsico Gas station attendant on free windshield inspection: "Sir your windshield looks great. To keep it that way, avoid highways."

jfb note: Ok, this has nothing to do with banking. But, seriously, this was his advice.

@JeffMarsico Bank analyst: "If there are such great returns to scale, then where are the Citigroup Inc. shareholders' yachts?"

jfb note: This was in a research note and not told to me directly. The economies of scale gang still can't answer this one. But a colleague of mine dubbed it "diseconomies of scale due to organizational complexity". I say I could have wiped out just as much shareholder value as Citigroup's Charles Prince for far less money.

@JeffMarsico Credit Union CEO: "The differences between CUs & community banks are inflated by trade groups. We should focus on big banks."

jfb note: This was told to me at a conference that was designed specifically to lobby the Federal government with the key issue being expanding CUs business lending. But, with the sum total of assets in CUs being less than JPMorgan Chase, it should make us wonder where community FIs should spend their energy. And don't count on your trade association to help you to target their largest contributors.

@JeffMarsico Bank exec: "If our regulator walked by our water cooler & saw that it was half full, they would write us up for it."

jfb note: Symbolic of the relationship between examiners and examined.

@JeffMarsico Branch banking exec: "We need to figure out how to give good service to rate sensitive customers & Nordstrom service to those that value it."

jfb note: Banks still struggle with the squeaky wheel philosophy of customer service... give the greatest service to those that make the most noise or are the most visible, versus those that are the most profitable.

@JeffMarsico Retiring Bank CEO: "I've been around (50 years) to see a few things. I've never seen an environment as difficult as this was for banks."

jfb note: Enough said.

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO: "If I don't know within 30 minutes of meeting w the borrower if the loan is a good one, I'm in the wrong business."

jfb note: I hope he meant in the context of the next quote.

@JeffMarsico Bank director on strategy: "I would like to make loans to borrowers that can pay us back."

jfb note: I agree with this strategy.

@JeffMarsico Bank director: "A great leader has empathy, sympathy, integrity, and consistency."

jfb note: I was impressed that a bank experiencing difficulties would speak about leadership instead of regulators, borrowers, lenders, etc. It inspired this blog post.

@JeffMarsico Mortgage banking specialist to me: "FNMA has $25B of pending repurchase requests outstanding."

jfb note: Well that's not comforting. One of my clients received a significant repurchase request from Fannie. If we sell them, but have to retain the risk, pricing and terms are going to have to change on residential mortgages.

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO: "In my 40 year career, it's never been easier to book loans." 

This is one of those counter-quotes... quotes that go against conventional wisdom. This bank is feeding off the castaways from large banks. I hope the castaways can pay the loans back.

@JeffMarsico Community bank CEO: "I'm fm a big bank and I was surprised I had to make holiday decoration decisions."

jfb note: Welcome to community banking.

@JeffMarsico Bank institutional investor: "Great banks have 1. Great asset qual, 2. Good IRR position, 3. Great efficiency ratio, and 4. Great sales/service."

jfb note: Always great to know because institutional investors own a significantly greater portion of community banks now than pre-2008, which leads to the next quote.

@JeffMarsico Bank analyst: "Attractive banks: have a lending niche and/or in strong economy; managed credit problems well; & have excess capital."

jfb note: I suppose if you asked 10 analysts and institutional investors you would get 10 different answers.

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO: "In a perfect financial year, you have done well if you don't have to think about your bank more than 10 minutes."

jfb note: The context was that banks should make it easy for businesses to perform banking chores.

Bank CEO: "We would have to be much bigger than we are to be a technology leader."

jfb note: Some still believe they can be a technology leader.

Bank CEO: "Ally Bank did an excellent job convincing the public that the opposite of the truth is true."

jfb note: This was in response to me citing a survey that showed Ally Bank one of the top recognized bank brands. Advertising saturation can work for those with the wallets.


Bank CEO: "We were surprised at quick adoption rate of our mobile banking app."

jfb note: Because bank customers used to be notoriously slow at adopting new delivery channels. Needless to say the turtle is making gains on the hare.


Bank CFO to me: "You were able to pronounce that branch correctly when you didn't have that beard."

jfb note: Wise guy CFO.


What have bankers been telling you?

~ Jeff

Banker Quotes: As Told to Me v2

I learn a lot from bankers as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Below are selected quotes that I tweeted this year along with my brief insights or background regarding the comment.

Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote bankers anonymously to protect the innocent.

@JeffMarsico Bank attorney to me: "The only thing worse than training an employee and having them leave, is not training them and having them stay."

jfb note: I'm not sure if this was original, and I find it odd that an attorney said it. But this attorney is also an ordained minister... an interesting fellow to say the least. The context was a discussion surrounding how community banks used to pilfer previously trained employees of large banks. Once those training programs went away, community banks never filled the void.

@JeffMarsico Bank COO to me: "We must install headphones on our ATMs so visually impaired people can drive up and use them."

jfb note: Think about that for a moment. There should be a common sense-o-meter that sounds the alarm in every office where banking laws and regulations are made.

@JeffMarsico Community bank head of retail: "The transitional branch model will be to acquire consolidated branch buildings and get them open cheaply."

jfb note: This was said in a strategic planning retreat. The transition is from current branches and future branches. Much is being debated about the future role of branches. I think the guiding principle should be: nobody knows and be skeptical of those that claim to.

@JeffMarsico Bank fund manager to me: "Our investment criteria is great management teams, in great markets, with great core deposit franchises."

jfb note: This fund focuses on under $10B in assets community banks. This is his opinion of value creation. It may not agree with yours. But he has hundreds of millions to invest.

@JeffMarsico Bank COO: "We've stopped playing 'let's make a deal' with CD-only customers."

jfb note: Transitioning funding sources into core deposits hasn't been particularly difficult in this low interest rate environment. The true test of this COO's philosophy will happen when rates rise.

@JeffMarsico Behavioral psychologist: "When you pay people enough, they are motivated by autonomy, mastery & purpose."

jfb note: I would agree with the statement. But I doubt there is agreement on the definition of "enough".

@JeffMarsico Bank Chief Risk Officer: "Regulators focus is slowly moving from credit to data security."

jfb note: Data security may very well be the next great banking crisis. I can't help but wonder if those evil geniuses intent on hacking financial systems would dedicate themselves to doing good, they can make a pretty good living. They still can sit at home without showering.

@JeffMarsico CU CFO to me: "We installed a remote teller in one of our branches and customers refused to use it. We had to uninstall it."

jfb note: Remote teller stations, where the actual person is on a screen and transactions are accomplished through ATM-like or suction tubes, are getting a lot of buzz. I think I've been around banking enough to be skeptical of buzz. How about you?

@JeffMarsico TD Bank CEO: "Americans get almost as much pleasure out of crushing an opponent as winning."

jfb note: Ok, this one wasn't told to me in person but I read it. I think the Canadians might be on to something. I wish he got the message to Osama bin Laden earlier.

@JeffMarsico CU CFO to me: "Because we have low balance accounts and a no fee culture, we need to leverage technology to lower costs."

jfb note: Common sense that, occasionally, needs to be said, and tweeted.

@JeffMarsico Bank director: "A loan participation transfers risk from one who lacks courage to one who lacks knowledge."

jfb note: Said in a board meeting where the bank's senior lender was proposing plugging a budget gap in loan production with participations. Ever try to collect on a loan gone sour that was originated by the bank in the next town over?

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO: "Our examiners were simultaneously examining us and interviewing for OCC jobs, which can't be a good thing."

jfb note: Wonder what agency examined this bank?  Hmmm?

What interesting things are you hearing out there?

~ Jeff

Banker Quotes: As Told to Me

I learn a lot from bankers as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think my Twitter followers would find interesting. Below are quotes that I tweeted so far this year along with my brief insights or background regarding the comment. Note that if the quotes exceeded 140 characters, I would have abbreviated or substituted some words to make them fit. So if you are a CPA and want to count, a few of the quotes may exceed the 140 here, but not on Twitter. I quote bankers anonymously to protect the innocent.

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO to me: "My least tenured board member has been on the board 31 years."

jfb note: This is a common theme in community FI boardrooms. Board members hang on with white knuckles to their board seats, contributing to our industry’s slow progress in adapting to change.

@JeffMarsico Bank COO to me: “We're thinking of selling a business line but are afraid to ask accountants the impact for fear they'll make us write it down.”

jfb note: This may seem silly to you, but it is very common. FI senior executives fear what their accountants and regulators might make them do.

@JeffMarsico Chief Credit Officer to me: “Every lender I know has made good and bad loans. The key is to get them to admit to the bad.”

jfb Note: A key lesson learned by me after this crisis was the eternal optimism by lenders that their bad loans will be fine if we just let them be.

@JeffMarsico Bank finance officer to me: "If you figure out our strategy, let me know."

jfb note: This person was not a senior executive at their FI and was not tuned into the FIs strategy. Both she, and presumably her coworkers, were left out of the secret or the bank didn’t have a strategy. Either way, common themes.

@JeffMarsico Bank CEO to me: "I don't know who is making the decisions [at the FDIC], but they are making some pretty poor ones!"

jfb note: Enough said.

@JeffMarsico Me to snow blower maker: “I can't start it.” SBM: "Did you leave gas in all year. Yeah, there's your problem. Clogs the carb."

jfb note: This has nothing to do with banking, but I’m still smarting from having to manually shovel a fairly large volume of snow off of a big driveway. Not good for my 45 year old back? (rest of me is much younger)

@JeffMarsico Chief Credit Officer to me: "63% of our non-accrual loans have never missed a payment and are paying as agreed."

jfb note: I was shocked by this revelation. Their regulator made this FI put those loans on non-accrual because they didn’t cash flow.

What interesting things have you heard about our industry?

~ Jeff