Summit Notebook

Exclusive outtakes from industry leaders

ABA’s Yingling sees danger in rhetoric: it’s Wall Street, not banks

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REGULATION-SUMMITEd Yingling, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, is a little worried about the rhetoric that’s been flying around as Congress tries to produce financial reform legislation.

And he wants people to be clear that the problems are with Wall Street, not banks.

Though, the differentiation gets a little tricky here because some of the largest banks in the country and biggest players on Wall Street are members of his organization and received taxpayer bailouts. The thousands of other banks that his trade association represents did not.

“The general tone has I think been harmful, particularly to the banks we represent,” Yingling said at the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit 2010.

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