Hubris Watch: US Bank CEO Sniffs About Breaking Rules When His Bank Has Huge Trustee Liability « naked capitalism

Interesting comments on banking rules and whether the banks should be required to follow them. So far we have seen that the same rules do not apply to the banks as it does for any other criminal enterprise. Yves Smith points out in her following article that the only criminals that get prosecuted are those that steel from the rich. IE Bernie Madoff. It was short order to have him put in jail while the bankers, guilty of similar fraud, are allowed to continue to collect huge bonuses. The little guy is left to carry the weight of the financial meltdown and our government stands by as politicians put their hands out for donations from the Too big to fail banks. Us Bank CEO in Minneapolis

Davis’ apparent lone comment on the public ire against the banks was dismissive: “‘Everybody’s breaking the rules, blah blah blah,” Davis said at one point, mocking the general sentiment behind the public outrage before admonishing them to “Get over it.” Davis’ arrogance no doubt seems justified, since only rulebreakers who aren’t in the corporate elite club, like Bernie Madoff, have been brought to justice. And he stole from rich people, which made him a prime target. By contrast, US Bank on Davis’ watch, is a recidivist rulebreaker, but he clearly regards that as a matter of no import. (Davis was US Bank’s president starting in October 2004, was promoted to CEO in December 2006, and became chairman in December 2007). US Bank is one of the four biggest securitization trustees, along with Bank of New York, Deutsche Bank, and Wells Fargo. That, sports fans, means his bank has massive liability on mortgage backed securitizations. We discussed this issue recently as far as Bank of New York is concerned. The same logic applies to US Bank: Hubris Watch: US Bank CEO Sniffs About Breaking Rules When His Bank Has Huge Trustee Liability « naked capitalism