The Lost Bank Quotes

“acronym CAMELS stands for Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management quality, Earnings, Liquidity, and Sensitivity to market risk. Under this system, banks are ranked on a 1 to 5 scale,”
― Kirsten Grind, The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History

“(Dimon also apparently wasn’t a fan of supporting the Seattle Art Museum, at least initially. When one of his lieutenants suggested that he continue to donate to the museum because Kerry and Linda Killinger had a named wing, and Bill Gates, Jr.’s mom was involved, Dimon exclaimed: “Are you fucking stupid? Why the fuck would I do that? I will honor whatever we legally have to honor. Are you going to tell me that Bill Gates doesn’t have enough money to support the museum?”
― Kirsten Grind, The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History

“Should be a fun week. This is what separates good bankers from the posers.” The e-mail exchange grew heated. A manager in charge of WaMu’s deposits responded defensively: “No one is panicking, so long emails that sound preachy don’t help. We are not dumb, let us prepare.” Freilinger replied, “If you fire people up over weekends, you’re fanning flames, not ‘getting ready.’ ‘Getting ready’ takes place months, not hours before a firestorm, by increasing branch awareness through clear pricing signals and encouragement of building deposit excess balances while no obvious sparks around. I never called anyone dumb—but I’ll continue to dial back unnecessarily panicked executives wherever and whenever I find them.”
― Kirsten Grind, The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History

“(Leonard also noted that “Negative Amortization” would make a terrific name for a punk band.)”
― Kirsten Grind, The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History

“WaMu’s patchwork of systems for making mortgage loans did not help. A homeowner would lock in a low interest rate through”
― Kirsten Grind, The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History

“So far, only a mortgage trader from Goldman Sachs has been criminally charged. As Fay Chapman would later observe about the financial crisis in general, “There is no law against stupidity.”
― Kirsten Grind, The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History