Banking

"The reason that the United States had a banking industry that was radically better for the economic prosperity of the country had nothing to do with differences in the motivation of those who owned the banks. Indeed, the profit motive, which underpinned the monopolistic nature of the banking industry in Mexico, was present in the United States, too. But this profit motive was channeled differently because of the radically different U.S. institutions. The bankers faced different economic institutions, institutions that subjected them to much greater competition. And this was largely because the politicians who wrote the rules for the bankers faced very different incentives themselves, forged by different political institutions. Indeed, in the late eighteenth century, shortly after the Constitution of the United States came into operation, a banking system looking similar to that which subsequently dominated Mexico began to emerge. Politicians tried to set up state banking monopolies, which they could give to their friends and partners in exchange for part of the monopoly profits. The banks also quickly got into the business of lending money to the politicians who regulated them, just as in Mexico. But this situation was not sustainable in the United States, because the politicians who attempted to create these banking monopolies, unlike their Mexican counterparts, were subject to election and reelection. Creating banking monopolies and giving loans to politicians is good business for politicians, if they can get away with it. It is not particularly good for the citizens, however. Unlike in Mexico, in the United States the citizens could keep politicians in check and get rid of ones who would use their offices to enrich themselves or create monopolies for their cronies. In consequence, the banking monopolies crumbled. The broad distribution of political rights in the United States, especially when compared to Mexico, guaranteed equal access to finance and loans. This in turn ensured that those with ideas and inventions could benefit from them."

"“They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord,"

"The modern banking system manufactures “money” out of nothing; and the process is, perhaps, the most, astounding piece of “sleight of hand” that was ever invented. In fact, it was not invented. It merely “grew”. … Banks in fact are able to create (and cancel) modern “deposit money”, just as much as they were originally able to create, or call in, their own original forms of private notes. They can, in fact, inflate and deflate, i.e., mint, and un-mint the modern “ledger-entry” currency."

"The best way to rob a bank is to own one."

"I am just a banker "doing God’s work"."

"Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion."

"Banks do not have an obligation to promote the public good."

"The actual process of money creation takes place in commercial banks. As noted earlier, demand liabilities of commercial banks are money. … Confidence in these forms of money also seems to be tied in some way to the fact that assets exist on the books of the government and the banks equal to the amount of money outstanding, even though most of the assets themselves are no more than pieces of paper..."

"Commercial banks create checkbook money whenever they grant a loan, simply by adding new deposit dollars in accounts on their books in exchange for a borrower's IOU."

"The 12 regional reserve banks aren't government institutions, but corporations nominally 'owned' by member commercial banks."

"We are not against borrowing money and we are not against bankers. We are against trying to make borrowed money take the place of work. We are against the kind of banker who regards a business as a melon to be cut. The thing is to keep money and borrowing and finance generally in their proper place, and in order to do that one has to consider exactly for what the money is needed and how it is going to be paid off."

"Bankers have no right to establish a customary law among themselves, at the expence of other men."

"The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it."

"The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled."

"The use of money does not disestablish the normal process of creating credit. Money, it is true, is always being paid into the banks by the retailers and others who receive it in the course of business, and they of course receive bank credits in return for the money thus deposited. But for the manufacturers and others who have to pay money out, credits are still created by the exchange of obligations, the banker's immediate obligation being given to his customer in exchange for the customer's obligation to repay at a future date. We shall still describe this dual operation as the creation of credit. By its means the banker creates the means of payment out of nothing, whereas when he receives a bag of money from his customer, one means of payment, a bank credit, is merely substituted for another, an equal amount of cash."

"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

"Money is created when banks lend it into existence. When a bank provides you with a $100,000 mortgage, it creates only the principal, which you spend and which then circulates in the economy. The bank expects you to pay back $200,000 over the next 20 years, but it doesn't create the second $100,000 - the interest. Instead, the bank sends you out into the tough world to battle against everybody else to bring back the second $100,000."

"While economic textbooks claim that people and corporations are competing for markets and resources, I claim that in reality they are competing for money - using markets and resources to do so. So designing new money systems really amounts to redesigning the target that orients much human effort... Greed and competition are not a result of immutable human temperament... greed and fear of scarcity are in fact being continuously created and amplified as a direct result of the kind of money we are using. For example, we can produce more than enough food to feed everybody, and there is definitely enough work for everybody in the world, but there is clearly not enough money to pay for it all. The scarcity is in our national currencies. In fact, the job of central banks is to create and maintain that currency scarcity. The direct consequence is that we have to fight with each other in order to survive."

"So limited is our knowledge that we resort, not to science, but to shamans. We place control of the world's largest economy in the hands of a few elderly men, the central bankers."

"With money every form of intercourse, and intercourse itself, is considered fortuitous for the individuals."

"We [Banks] have a "right to make a profit""

"But please do not think that I am not fond of banks, Because I think they deserve our appreciation and thanks."

"Since those who rule in the city do so because they own a lot, I suppose they're unwilling to enact laws to prevent young people who've had no discipline from spending and wasting their wealth, so that by making loans to them, secured by the young people's property, and then calling those loans in, they themselves become even richer and more honored."

"In the epoch of imperialism, the bankers became the aristocrats of the capitalist world."

"There ain't nothin' to it. You go into the fancy meeting room and you just sit there and never open your yap. As long as you don't say nuthin' they don't know whether you're smart or dumb. When the question of a loan comes up, if it's a friend of yours, you vote to give it to him and if he ain't a friend, you don't."

"Globalization creates interlocking fragility, while reducing volatility and giving the appearance of stability. In other words it creates devastating Black Swans. We have never lived before under the threat of a global collapse. Financial Institutions have been merging into a smaller number of very large banks. Almost all banks are interrelated. So the financial ecology is swelling into gigantic, incestuous, bureaucratic banks — when one fails, they all fall. The increased concentration among banks seems to have the effect of making financial crisis less likely, but when they happen they are more global in scale and hit us very hard. We have moved from a diversified ecology of small banks, with varied lending policies, to a more homogeneous framework of firms that all resemble one another. True, we now have fewer failures, but when they occur... I shiver at the thought."

"The banks do create money. They have been doing it for a long time, but they didn't quite realise it, and they did not admit it. Very few did. You will find it in all sorts of documents, financial textbooks, etc. But in the intervening years, and we must all be perfectly frank about these things, there has been a development of thought, until today I doubt very much whether you would get many prominent bankers to attempt to deny that banks create credit."

"There is no group of people on the planet more stupid than bankers. They should be called bonkers. Look at the famous banks that are suddenly losing billions, because they handed out loans like lunatics."

"Big banks treat government fines as the cost of doing business. This settlement lets bad bank executives off the hook for allowing TD Bank to be used as a criminal slush fund. The Department of Justice and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency need to do better in enforcing our anti-money laundering laws.”"

"Bankers play far too great a part in the conduct of industry..."

"The average successful banker is by no means so intelligent and resourceful a man as is the average successful business man. Yet the banker through his control of credit practically controls the average business man."

"The banker is, as I have noted, by training and because of his position, totally unsuited to the conduct of industry. If, therefore, the controllers of credit have lately acquired this very large power, is it not to be taken as a sign that there is something wrong with the financial system that gives to finance instead of to service the predominant power in industry? It was not the industrial acumen of the bankers that brought them into the management of industry."

"My objection to bankers has nothing to do with personalities. I am not against bankers as such. We stand very much in need of thoughtful men, skilled in finance. The world cannot go on without banking facilities. We have to have money. We have to have credit. Otherwise the fruits of production could not be exchanged. We have to have capital. Without it there could be no production. But whether we have based our banking and our credit on the right foundation is quite another matter."

"The bankers who do straight banking should regard themselves as naturally the first men to probe and understand our monetary system—instead of being content with the mastery of local banking-house methods; and if they would deprive the gamblers in bank balances of the name of "banker" and oust them once for all from the place of influence which that name gives them, banking would be restored and established as the public service it ought to be, and the iniquities of the present monetary system and financial devices would be lifted from the shoulders of the people."

"If the present faulty system is more profitable to a financier than a more perfect system would be, and if that financier values his few remaining years of personal profits more highly than he would value the honour of making a contribution to the life of the world by helping to erect a better system, then there is no way of preventing a clash of interests. But it is fair to say to the selfish financial interests that, if their fight is waged to perpetuate a system just because it profits them, then their fight is already lost. Why should finance fear? The world will still be here. Men will do business with one another. There will be money and there will be need of masters of the mechanism of money. Nothing is going to depart but the knots and tangles. There will be some readjustments, of course. Banks will no longer be the masters of industry. They will be the servants of industry."

"Business will control money instead of money controlling business. The ruinous interest system will be greatly modified. Banking will not be a risk, but a service. Banks will begin to do much more for the people than they do now, and instead of being the most expensive businesses in the world to manage, and the most highly profitable in the matter of dividends, they will become less costly, and the profits of their operation will go to the community which they serve."

"The death of Lincoln was a disaster for Christendom. There was no man in the United States great enough to wear his boots and the bankers went anew to grab the riches. I fear that foreign bankers with their craftiness and tortuous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt modern civilization."

"The bank hath benefit of interest on all moneys which it creates out of nothing."

"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take this power away from them, and all the great fortunes disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money and control credit."

"We don't know what would have happened had [[w:Benjamin_Strong|[Federal Reserve Governor Benjamin] Strong]] lived; but what we do know is that the central bank of the world's economically most important nation in 1929 was essentially leaderless and lacking in expertise. This situation led to decisions, or nondecisions, which might well not have occurred under either better leadership or a more centralized institutional structure. Associated with these decisions, we observe a massive collapse of money, prices, and output. … Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton [Friedman] and Anna [Schwartz]: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again."

"This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President signs this bill, the invisible government by the Monetary Power will be legalized […] the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill."

"The Consumer Price Index is 15 times higher than it was when the Federal Reserve was founded in 1913. In the hundred years prior to the advent of the Federal Reserve, prices in America fell by one third."

"When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money."

"Neither paper currency nor deposits have value as commodities. Intrinsically, a dollar bill is just a piece of paper, deposits merely book entries. Coins do have some intrinsic value as metal, but generally far less than their face value."

"There has been a great reaching out by bankers in the last fifteen or twenty years--and especially since the war--and the Federal Reserve System for a time put into their hands an almost limitless supply of credit. The banker is, as I have noted, by training and because of his position, totally unsuited to the conduct of industry. If, therefore, the controllers of credit have lately acquired this very large power, is it not to be taken as a sign that there is something wrong with the financial system that gives to finance instead of to service the predominant power in industry? It was not the industrial acumen of the bankers that brought them into the management of industry. Everyone will admit that. They were pushed there, willy-nilly, by the system itself. Therefore, I personally want to discover whether we are operating under the best financial system. Now, let me say at once that my objection to bankers has nothing to do with personalities. I am not against bankers as such. We stand very much in need of thoughtful men, skilled in finance. The world cannot go on without banking facilities. We have to have money. We have to have credit. Otherwise the fruits of production could not be exchanged. We have to have capital. Without it there could be no production. But whether we have based our banking and our credit on the right foundation is quite another matter."

"Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and through its Board of Governors manipulates the credit of the United States."

"...Pam Martens is very clear... She points out the reason that the regular newspapers don't report it is the loans violated every element of the Dodd-Frank laws that were supposed to prevent the Fed from making loans to particular banks that were not part of a liquidity crisis. In her article, she makes very clear by pointing out these three banks, Chase Manhattan, Goldman Sachs – which used to be a brokerage firm – and Citibank, that the Federal Reserve laws and the Dodd-Frank Act explicitly prevent the Fed from making loans to particular banks. It can only make loans if there's a general liquidity crisis. And we know that there wasn't at that time, because she lists the banks that borrowed money, and there were very few of them."

"So I think the reason that the newspapers are going quiet on this is the Fed broke the law. And it wants to continue breaking the law. And that's why these Wall Street banks fought so hard to get the current head of the Fed reappointed, [[Jerome Powell|[Jerome] Powell]], because they know that he's going to do what [[Timothy Geithner|[Timothy] Geithner]] did under the Obama administration. He's loyal to the New York City banks, and he's willing to sacrifice the economy to help the banks. Because those are the clients of the New York Fed, the big New York banks. And that's been the case ever since I was on Wall Street half a [century] ago. And Pam [Martens] is trying to expose how these banks are crooked, and really what the whole problem was. She points out that the Fed is supposed to make short-term loans, but these are long-term loans."

"No observer has succeeded in pinpointing the spark that set off the roaring conflagration that swept and eventually consumed the securities markets in 1928 and 1929. Clearly, however, its sustaining oxygen was a matter not only of recondite market mechanisms and traders’ technicalities but also of simple atmospherics—specifically, the mood of speculative expectation that hung feverishly in the air and induced fantasies of effortless wealth that surpassed the dreams of avarice. Much blame has been leveled at a feckless Federal Reserve System for failing to tighten credit as the speculative fires spread, but while it is arguable that the easy-money policies of 1927 helped to kindle the blaze, the fact is that by late 1928 it had probably burned beyond controlling by orthodox financial measures. The Federal Reserve Board justifiably hesitated to raise its rediscount rate for fear of penalizing nonspeculative business borrowers. When it did impose a 6 percent rediscount rate in the late summer of 1929, call loans were commanding interest of close to 20 percent—a spread that the Fed could not have bridged without catastrophic damage to legitimate borrowers. Similarly, the board had early exhausted its already meager ability to soak up funds through open-market sales of government securities. By the end of 1928, the system’s inventory of such securities barely exceeded $200 million— a pittance compared to the nearly $8 billion in call loans then outstanding. By ordinary measures, in fact, credit was tight after 1928. Mere money was not at the root of the evil soon to befall Wall Street; men were—men, and women, whose lust for the fast buck had loosed all restraints of financial prudence or even common sense."

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

"Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government board, has cheated the Government of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks acting together have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt several times over. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the United States; has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through defects of the law under which it operates, through the maladministration of that law by the Federal Reserve Board and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it."

"The Federal Reserve, as one writer put it, after the recent increase in the discount rate, is in the position of the chaperone who has ordered the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up."

"The Fed is a disaster. We should have a discussion in this country about whether we need a Fed."

"The Federal Reserve Banks, while not part of the government, are the central banking sytem for the Nation.… Holdings of Federal debt by the Federal Reserve Banks do not have the same impact on private credit markets as other debt held by the public. Their holdings of Federal debt arise from their role as the country's central bank."

"The lifeblood of our economy, indeed the whole world's economy, is based on money. Without a currency that can be trusted, the entire structure of economics, the division of labor itself, falls apart. Our wealth, our well being and our very lives are dependent on the continuation of this highly complex structure called the economy and it in turn is dependent on sound money. We have placed our trust for the management of this money on a gang of thieves called the Federal Reserve. They have now clearly demonstrated their inability to restrain themselves from the excesses that can be perpetrated within a paper money system. If we want to survive as a nation, we need to eliminate both the Federal Reserve and paper money."

"The Federal Reserve and this administration failed the American people by not heeding these warnings a year ago, and not acting sooner to address it"

"Our power has been created through the manipulation of the national monetary system. We authored the quotation, 'Money is power.' As revealed in our master plan, it was essential for us to establish a private national bank. The Federal Reserve system fitted our plan nicely since it is owned by us, but the name implies that it is a government institution. From the very outset, our purpose was to confiscate all the gold and silver, replacing them with worthless non-redeemable paper notes. This we have done! ... The examples are numerous, but a few readily apparent are the stocks and bonds market, all forms of insurance, and the fractional reserve system practiced by the Federal Reserve corporation, not to mention the billions in gold and silver that we have gained in exchange for paper notes, stupidly called money. Money power was essential in carrying out our master plan of international conquest through propaganda."

"I cannot say with what deep emotions of gratitude I feel that I have had a part in completing a work which I believe will be of lasting benefit to the business of the country."

"By making money artificially scarce interest rates throughout the country can be arbitrarily raised and the bank tax on all business and cost of living increased for the profit of the banks owning these regional central banks, and without the slightest benefit to the people. These 12 corporations together cover the whole country and monopolize and use for private gain every dollar of the public currency, and all public revenues of the United States."

"The powers vested in the Federal Reserve Board seem to me highly dangerous especially when there is political control of the Board. I should be sorry to hold stock in a bank subject to such dominations. The [Federal Reserve] bill as it stands seems to me to open the way to a vast inflation of the currency.… I do not like to think that any law can be passed that will make it possible to submerge the gold standard in a flood of irredeemable paper currency."

"It is proposed that the Government shall retain sufficient power over the reserve banks to enable it to exercise a direct authority when necessary to do so, but that it shall in no way attempt to carry on through its own mechanism the routine operations and banking which require detailed knowledge of local and individual credit and which determine the funds of the community in any given instance. In other words, the reserve-bank plan retains to the Government power over the exercise of the broader banking functions, while it leaves to individuals and privately owned institutions the actual direction of routine."

"Examining the organization and function of the Federal Reserve Banks, and applying the relevant factors, we conclude that the Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the FTCA [Federal Tort Claims Act], but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations."

"The Federal Reserve Board regulates the Reserve Banks, but direct supervision and control of each Bank is exercised by its board of directors."

"The Banks are empowered to sue and be sued in their own name…. They carry their own liability insurance and typically process and handle their own claims. In the past, the Banks have defended against tort claims directly, through private counsel, not government attorneys…."

"The Reserve Banks have properly been held to be federal instrumentalities for some purposes…. This court held that a Federal Reserve Bank employee who was responsible for recommending expenditure of federal funds was a "public official" under the Federal Bribery Statute."

"The Reserve Banks are deemed to be federal instrumentalities for purposes of immunity from state taxation…. The test for determining whether an entity is a federal instrumentality for purposes of protection from state or local action or taxation, however, is very broad: whether the entity performs an important governmental function…. The Reserve Banks, which further the nation's fiscal policy, clearly perform an important governmental function."

"Brinks Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System … held that a Federal Reserve Bank is a federal instrumentality for purposes of the Service Contract Act.… Unlike in Brinks, plaintiffs are not without a forum in which to seek a remedy, for they may bring an appropriate state tort claim directly against the Bank; and if successful, their prospects of recovery are bright since the institutions are both highly solvent and amply insured."

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit…."

"[T]he is to the Agriculture, Commerce, and Finance of Great Britain a Sun; and the Circulation of so many Millions of its paper is the basis on which its convenience, property, and safety, have hitherto rested."

"Sir Francis Baring, "Sir Francis Baring's Observations on the Letter of Walter Boyd, Esq. to Mr. Pitt (1801) as quoted by Thomas Skinner Surr", The Present Critical State of the Country Developed; or, An Exhibition of the True Causes of the Calamitous Derangement of the Banking System, at the Present Alarming Crisis: Shewing the Essential Distinction between the Solidity of the National Bank of England and that of the Country Banks (1826) p. 7."

"In my former letter on the new collection of antiquities from Babylon, acquired by Mr. George Smith for the trustees of the , I referred to the great light we might expect to gain from them on the chronology of the late Babylonian and Persian empires. The tablets are the commercial papers or cheques and notes of a Babylonian banking firm, trading under the name of the founder Egibi. This firm appears from its close connection with the Court to have been a sort of national bank of Babylonia... The tablets give us a complete succession of annual transactions, from the first of Nabuchadnessar to the thirty-fifth of Darius. There is one tablet dated in the fourth year Nabu pal uzur, (Nabopalassar)... [W]e are enabled to fix the date... B.C. 625 as the first year of this monarch. From this date, for more than a century, this bank appears to have carried on its business regularly, but in the month Ab, [the eleventh month, or July of the Jewish people...] B.C. 516, the revolt of Aracus against Darius took place, the firm of Egibi were unable to transact any business owing to the revolt at Babylon, and the history of this remarkable bank cannot be traced any further."

"The bank of Venice is reputed the first in date in the history of modern Europe; but it did not become a bank, as we understand the term, till long after its foundation. Historians inform us that the republic being hard pressed for money, was obliged, upon three different occasions, in 1156, 1480, and 1510, to levy forced contributions upon the citizens, giving them in return perpetual annuities at certain rates per cent. The annuities due under the forced loan of 1156 were, however, finally extinguished in the 16th century; and the offices for the payment of the annuities due under the other two loans having been consolidated, eventually became the Bank of Venice. ...This establishment was ruined, after passing through many changes, by the invasion of the French in 1797. The origin of modern banking may be traced to the money-dealers of Florence, who were in high repute as receivers on deposit and lenders of money in the 14th century; and banking was indeed practised at Florence in the 13th if not in the 12th century."

"Money creation by private banks is a legacy of history. Banking started around the 15th, 16th century when goldsmiths started storing gold for their clients. To prove ownership customers received certificates which came to be used as a means of payment. Initially the goldsmiths gave out as many certificates as they had gold in stock, but they soon realized it was very unlikely that all customers would demand their gold at the same time. So they issued more certificates than they had gold in their vaults: money creation through private banking was born. For banks today the same applies as for goldsmiths at the time: if all customers demand their deposits at the same time—a so-called "bank run"—the bank will not be able to pay and will fail. And worse, depositors will loose their money."

"The use of banks has been the best method yet practised for the increase of money. banks have been long used in Italy, but as I am informed, the invention of them was owing to Sweedland. their money was copper, which was inconvenient, by reason of its weight and bulk; to remedy this inconveniency, a bank was set up where the money might be pledged, and credit given to the value, which past in payments and facilitate trade. The Dutch for the same reason set up the bank of Amsterdam. their money was silver, but their trade was so great as to find payments even in silver inconvenient. this bank like that of Sweedland, is a secure place, where merchants may give in money, and have credit to trade with. besides the convenience of easier and quicker payments, these banks save the expence of casheers, the expence of bags and carriage, losses by bad money, and the money is safer than in the merchants houses, for 'tis less lyable to fire or robbery, the necessary measures being taken to prevent them."

"Carthage... must have been a scene of wonderful grandeur and activity. The Carthaginians were luxurious, and prone to display their wealth. ...The riches of the temples were immense, and the furniture and embellishments of private dwellings were of the costliest kind. Distant isles of the Atlantic, as well as the nearer shores of Asia and of Europe, contributed to the teeming stores of Carthage. In [this] great African republic bank-notes had their origin. "In a small piece of leather," says Æschines, the Socratic philosopher, "is wrapped a substance of the size of a piece of four drachms; but what this substance is no one knows except the maker. After this it is sealed, and issued for circulation; and he who possesses the most of this is regarded as having the most money, and as being the wealthiest man. But if any one among us had ever so much he would be no richer than if he possessed a quantity of pebbles." Of course banks must have existed for the redemption of these leather promises to pay, and the issue and currency of such notes must have been provided for by law."

"[In Ancient Rome, 340 B.C.] The first care of the new consuls was to regulate the payment of debts, the only obstruction to a perfect union of the patricians and plebeians. They no longer considered the relief of debtors as a private affair, but as a general concern of the public; and therefore chose out five men of known probity, and great experience, to take an account of all the debts of the plebeians. These five were called bankers, and had the command of the public treasury to enable them to discharge their commission; which they did to the satisfaction of both parties. Those who, out of sloth and idleness, had plunged themselves into debt, either borrowed money of these bankers, giving the treasury security for it, or deposited the value of their debts in their creditors hands in effects, which were valued by the bankers. By this means the greatest part of the debtors were relieved, without doing injury to any person, and with little loss to the public. Tranquillity being thus established at home..."

"[U]pon the first day of the month Adar, proclamation was made throughout all Israel, that the people should provide themselves with half shekels, which were yearly paid towards the service of the temple, according to the commandment of God; On the 25th of Adar, they brought tables into the temple (that is, into the outward court, where the people stood) {Exodus xxx. 31.} On these lay the lesser coins, which were to provide those who wanted half-shekels for their offerings, or that wanted lesser pieces of money in payment for oxen, sheep, doves, &c. which stood there ready in the said court to be sold for sacrifices; but this supply and furnishing the people from the tables, was not without an exchange for other money or other things in lieu of money and that at an advantage [to the exchanger]: hence all those who sat at the tables were called bankers, or masters of the exchange."

"The first public institution in England partaking somewhat of the nature of a Bank was the Exchequer, founded by William the First: it still flourishes under Victoria, and, after an existence of eight hundred years its objects remain unchanged... The original name of the Exchequer was Scaccarium... not improbably derived from scaecus or scaccum, the "chess board," because a chequered cloth was used [by]... the accomptants of the English Court of Exchequer in counting the money inasmuch as the squares were understood to represent figures corresponding to the amounts placed thereon."

"Previous to, and immediately after the Norman Conquest, there was very little money in use in England: all obligations were discharged by personal service and by payments such as cattle, horses, dogs, hawks, &c. &c."

"Down to the period of Henry the First, the rents, taxes, and fines due to the King, were paid in provisions and necessaries for his household. Afterwards, in succeeding reigns, the revenues of the Crown were chiefly paid in gold and silver, but sometimes made up with horses, dogs, and birds for game: on some occasions an entire payment was made in horses and dogs singly, of which there are numerous instances to be met with in the ancient rolls of the Exchequer."

"A great portion of the yearly revenue consisted of fines, which were paid for grants of land and confirmations of liberties and franchises of various kinds. When the receivers of the public revenue lodged the money in the Exchequer, they received a discharge for the same, called a tally. Tallies were of great and constant use [and] coeval with the... Exchequer... The word tallies is originally French—taillie, cutting. ...The sum of money which it bore was cut in notches in the wood by the cutter of the tallies, and likewise written on both sides of it by the writer of the tallies. ...[O]ne was given to the parties paying money, and the other retained at the Exchequer. It is a mistake to suppose that tallies were a means of keeping accounts. On the contrary, they were official receipts for money paid into the King's Exchequer. ...[T]hey were undoubtedly an effectual protection against forgery or fraud."

"The holder of an Exchequer bill does in fact hold a mortgage on all the property, both movable and immovable, in the United Kingdom; a mortgage binding in law, but more binding still in the unbroken faith of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom. Exchequer bills are a species of Government paper money... simply orders upon the Exchequer, entitling the bearer to the sum specified therein, together with interest at a fixed rate per cent, per day, until a period is named for their payment, that period being at the option of the Government, but seldom exceeding twelve months..."

"In former times... the Exchequer was literally the bank of the Lord High Treasurer; but this was at a period when the existing facilities and securities for the transfer of money were... almost wholly unknown; when bank credits, bank cheques, and bank notes had no existence; and when the whole system of pecuniary intercourse was rude and imperfect: but since the establishment of the , the Exchequer has become rather an office of accounts and control than a repository for the safe custody of cash."

"While the Exchequer might be considered the royal Bank and Treasury, while the brotherhood of St. Thomas à Becket and the Merchants of the Steel Yard appeared in the double capacity of merchants proper and of the modern loan contractors, the business now carried on by our Rothschilds and Barings, of foreign bankers and dealers in foreign bills of exchange, was the subject of a royal monopoly."

"The private bankers of England of whom we have the earliest cognizance, were in a very different position from their successors of the present day. The first were Jews, aliens in blood and religion; contemned, hated, feared, and despised. In the land of their adoption they were very soon made the victims of more barbarous cruelties and oppressions than were ever inflicted upon any people whatever."

"The Jews were originally introduced into England by , and to them belongs the merit of benefiting commerce by that important improvement—the inventing bills of exchange. Their industry and frugality caused them to accumulate vast sums of money, which the idleness and profusion common to the English nobility in those days enabled them to lend out at a high rate of interest upon the security of property. They were the principal artificers of the time, and wrought most of the gold and silver ornaments for the use of the churches,which on many occasions they were afterwards called upon to take as pledges for the repayment of money lent to the priors and other ecclesiastics. ...[E]ach successive monarch extorted from them large sums of money, and that frequently by the most barbarous and cruel methods. ...[A]t the general massacre of the Jews at York... the gentry of the neighbourhood, who were all indebted to the Jews, ran to the cathedral, the place where their bonds were kept, and made a solemn bonfire of the papers before the altar. ...[M]any atrocities [were] committed by the people of England upon the Jews ...Richard the First, after the massacre... banished the remainder."

"John, experiencing an inconvenience in their absence, tempted them to return... Edward the First exceeded all his predecessors in atrocity. Fifteen thousand Jews were robbed of all they possessed, and then banished the kingdom. ...Some of the wealthiest of the Jews, having obtained the king's permission to take with them their property, loaded a ship with immense wealth and set sail; but when they had got to the mouth of the Thames the captain of the ship cast anchor, and... persuaded the Jews to leave the ship, and... he stole away from them, got on board, and set sail. ...The captain returned to the king, to whom he related the result of his scheme, and delivered up the treasure, receiving in return both honour and reward."

"After this event, no trace of the existence of the Jews in England can be found till long after the Reformation... [T]his oppressed people paid nearly one third of the whole revenue of the kingdom."

"The expulsion of the Jews created great inconvenience, as there were none either to lend money or manage foreign business. ...[T]he family of Causini... bankers in the principal cities of Italy [were] invited to England... In... time other settled in London, in the street known by their name, and famous... as the very centre and focus of monetary transactions extending... to all parts of the globe. The occupations of the Lombards, like those of the Jews, were those of the goldsmith, the pawnbroker, and the merchant; and finally that of the banker. They, too, amassed immense wealth, and had at one time in their hands an enormous amount of church revenues. [The Lombards] also accommodated the kings of England with loans of money... Each succeeding year wore away the distinctions between the Lombard goldsmith and the native Englishman; and centuries have passed since the acute Italians of the middle ages were absorbed..."

"In the simple state of money-dealing which prevailed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the treasure to be lent out at interest was commonly displayed on a table or board, called Banco, and hence the origin of the term [for] those immense establishments which circulate the wealth and promote the trade of modern Europe."

"Hence also the term bankrupt... for when the dealer in money in former times failed to meet the claims made upon him by his professional brethren, his table or board was publicly broken in pieces, and himself declared unworthy of credit. The stigma of bancorotto henceforth adhered to him, and he was accordingly driven out from the society of the still solvent usurers."

"[M]oneylenders among the ancients were distinguished by a similar name, derived too from a similar circumstance; viz. from the tables on which they were wont to expose their bullion, and which, like their successors... they took care to set forth in the most public places, even in the porches and the aisles of their sacred temples."

"As early as the fifth and sixth centuries of the Christian era the term bank is found in Italian history... But anterior to that by at least eight centuries, the term banker is used in connection with those functions of banking which relate to the adjustment of accounts between debtor and creditor, by public process and with the treasury of a nation as the source of financial supply."

"In... An Universal History from the Earliest Account of Time (London: T. Osborn, in Gray's Inn, I747, vol. xii., p. 48), it is recorded that in ancient Rome, B.C. 340, the republic appointed public bankers and placed the treasury of the nation at their disposal for the adjustment of debtors accounts."

"The origin of public banking as the term is at present understood is unknown. The dates generally admitted for the founding of the leading European banks are as follows: Bank of Venice, 1157, 1171, 1173; of Florence, 1260; of Barcelona, 1349; of St. George, Genoa, 1407; of Amsterdam, 1609; of Hamburg, 1619; of England, 1694; of France, 1800. ...[T]he Italians being credited with elaborating and completing the self-checking system of double-entry now in common use."

"Most of those transacting business with foreign ports not only dispatched cargoes of their home commodities, but received, as return freights, cargoes of foreign productions. They had, therefore, both debtors and creditors in the countries with which they traded. The mode of payment by assignments enabled them to satisfy the claims of the latter by making over to them the certificates of indebtedness received from the former, thus dispensing alike with the necessity of transmitting money and of employing the exchanger, except for the purpose of collecting any balance which might remain. Assignments of this kind were drawn up in the form of letters requesting the debtor to pay over the sum specified to another party named in the letter, on account of the writer; specifying also the time within which, and the forms under which, the payment was to be made. From this system of payments there came naturally, as a part of the regular business of banking, the early and the more modern and perfected form of bills of exchange."

"The clearing house was first established... in London in I773, and in 1775 occupied its building in Lombard Street. Its object was the ready and easy exchange of checks, drafts, bank-notes, and other evidences of indebtedness between banks. In May, 1864, the Bank of England joined it, since which time transfers and exchanges have been made without the intervention of bank-note or specie. The clearing-house and each banker using it has an account with the Bank of England, and the balances due at the close of the daily transactions are settled by the transfer of accounts on the books of that bank. The clearing-house in New York City—the first in the United States—was established Oct 1st, 1853, since which time the banking centres of each geographical section of the country have some bank of clearing for their own convenience."

"All historians agree that the was the first national or state institution of its kind of the modern ages. The causes of its creation are to be found in the history of the republic... the character of its people, its industries, and its commercial relations with other nations. Venice may properly be called the most ancient republic of modern times... The commerce of Venice had sought the most distant shores of the then known world before the first was elected, and historians assert that as early as the seventh century, the ports of Syria, the Archipelago, and the Black Sea were almost exclusively visited by the vessels of the republic. ...From the earliest times the doges appear to have had the right to coin money, and the oldest Venetian coins extant are of silver..."

"In A.D. 1122, a decree was issued by the Eastern emperor commanding all Venetians resident at Constantinople and other Greek ports, to quit the imperial dominions, and declaring the suspension of all intercourse between the two powers. The Venetians thus saw the most profitable branch of their commerce threatened with destruction, and during the two succeeding years they ravaged all the coasts of the empire with their fleets, capturing Rhodes, and sacking Andros, Samos, all the Ionian isles, and a portion of the Peloponnesus. There had been granted to the Venetians certain very important commercial privileges including that of having their commerce with Roumania held free from all taxation, their persons and property exempted from the jurisdiction of the Greek magistrates; and a street and section of the city of Constantinople was devoted exclusively to their residence and trade. ...[I]t was owing to the turbulence in this quarter and to the quarrel with their neighbors and rivals, "the ," in 1171, that the wrath of the emperor brought about the destructive war which followed, the great changes in the government of the Venetian republic, and the founding of its banking institution."

"A fresh revolt of the Venetians resulted in an order... by the emperor to confiscate all their property... and to seize and imprison their persons. The doge... issued orders... to depart immediately. ...The emperor, in return... letting loose a fleet and waging a destructive war upon all the dependencies of Venice. The Venetians were aroused as never before... and in one hundred days... [o]ne hundred and thirty fully armed vessels sailed under the command of Doge Vitale Michieli II. The fleet departed for Dalmatia. Trau and Ragusa were taken and well-nigh destroyed, and the fleet sailed for the Archipelago. When off Negropont they were met by the governor, who persuaded the doge to send ambassadors to the emperor. These Venetian envoys were... detained all winter in prolix negotiations. In the meantime a... plague broke out among the fleet at ... and in the spring of 1173 a miserable remnant... of only seventeen vessels, made its way back to Venice, carrying with it the seeds of the plague. ...The imported pestilence spread itself over the city, sparing neither sex, age, nor condition; the populace accused the doge of being the author of these calamities, and when he appeared before the infuriated multitude he was murdered on the steps of the ducal palace. But out of all this misery and disorder arose a new order... Changes were made in the character of the government, limiting the powers of the doge, and Sebastiano Ziani was elected and installed in the ducal palace."

"[H]eralded by such god-mothers as War, Pestilence, and Revolution, the first banking institution of the modern world found existence. The finances of the republic were exhausted by this series of calamities; the doge, in 1171 [or] 1157 [or] at both dates,—was obliged to have recourse to a forced loan, exacted from the most opulent citizens, each being required to contribute according to his ability. The new doge, finding the revenues of the state still further disordered, the income of the government inadequate to its demands, and an expensive war with Frederick Barbarossa on his hands, felt himself obliged to resort to the same measure."

"For these later loans, in 1173, the public revenues were mortgaged for the payment of the interest at four per cent, and a board of commissioners was instituted... called "the Chamber of Loans,"... to arrange for and pay the interest to the fund holders... and to supervise the transferring of the stock."

"Britain was at war alternately on two fronts—first with the American colonies... then with Napoleon... Money was needed... Pitt was relentless... in his demands on the Bank for loans. Though taxes were increased... the need continued. ...Bank reserves dwindled, and there were occasional runs. Finally, in 1797, under conditions of great tension... the Bank suspended the right of redemption of its notes and deposits in gold and silver. The principal immediate consequence... disappearance of gold and silver coins... People passed on the notes and kept the metal. ...The Bank hurriedly printed one- and two-pound notes, and it also redeemed from its vaults a store of plundered Spanish pieces of eight. ...The needs of the government continued... Loans and the resulting note issues continued to increase. ...so did prices and the price of gold. ...[I]n reflection of the distribution of power... the concern was focused not on the price of food but on the price of gold. In... 1810, the House of Commons impaneled a committee... The committee... found... an overissue of the still irredeemable... notes [and] proposed that, after a two year period, the Bank make its notes fully convertible into specie once again. Thus... there could be no increase in the price of metal. There followed in 1811 a famous debate on the nature of money and its management... In the debate... is a difference of opinion that continues to this day. Where does economic change originate? Does it begin with those [in the banks] who are responsible for money... who made the loans and thus caused the supply of notes... to increase. (From this... the stimulating effect of rising prices on production and trade.) Or does change begin with production? ...with consequent effect on the demand for loans and thence on the supply of money? In short, does money influence the economy or does money respond to the economy? The question is still asked."

"A greater danger to gold was war. The gold standard in the last century owed much to the intelligent management of the ... It owed much more to the British peace. In the next century warring governments would, as did that of Pitt, turn to their central banks for the money that they could not raise in taxes. And no bank, whatever its pretense to independence, would even think of resisting. Most dangerous of all would be democracy. The Bank of England was the instrument of a ruling class. Among the powers the Bank derived from the ruling class was that of inflicting hardship. It could lower prices and wages, increase unemployment. These were the correctives when gold was being lost; euphoria was excessive. Few or none foresaw that farmers and workers would one day have the power that would make governments unwilling to impose these hardships even in so righteous a cause as defense of the currency. However, it was early seen that the interests of the rich in these matters could differ from those of others. Writing in 1810, Ricardo [made that observation in a September 6 letter to the Morning Chronicle editor]... In England the triumph of Ricardo's monied class was complete or nearly so. In the United States, however, it was subject to the sharpest of challenges. In one form or another, this challenge was to dominate American politics for the first century and a half of the Republic. Only the politics of slavery would divide men more angrily than the politics of money."

"The banks... provided the money that financed the speculation that in each case preceded the crash. Those buying land, commodities or railroad stocks and bonds came to the banks for loans. As the resulting notes and deposits went into circulation, they paid for the speculative purchases of yet others. It helped that the banks were small and local and thus could believe what the speculators believed... that values would go up for ever. The banking system... was well designed to expand the supply of money as speculation required. Banks and money also contributed to the ensuing crash. A farther constant of all the panics was that banks failed. In the earlier panics the will-of-the-wisp enterprises... disappeared... Later in the century, the casualties continued, and still most heavily among the small state banks. ...After 1920, the real slaughter began, and, after 1929, it approached euthanasia. In the four years beginning in 1930, more than 9000 banks and bankers hit the dust. A bank failure is not an ordinary business misadventure. ...Owners lose their capital and depositors their deposits, and both therewith lose their ability to purchase ...But failure (or... fear of failure) also means a shrinkage in the money supply. ...A healthy bank is making loans and, in consequence, creating deposits that, in turn, are money. A bank that fears failure is contracting its loans and therewith its deposits. And one that has failed is liquidating its loans, and its frozen deposits are no longer money. The liquidation also draws on the reserves, loans, deposits and thus the money supply of other banks."

"As the new System was getting under way, the United States was moving into war. It is part of the favoring cliche that this was the Federal Reserve's first crisis and that it met it well. This is nonsense. The Reserve Banks bought government bonds and helped sell them as the Treasury required at the interest rates the Treasury specified. Peacetime loans to private individuals can be refused. Government loans in wartime cannot. When its rates are set and its purchases of government securities specified, a central bank has no independent power. The System began its life as a routine adjunct of the Treasury, a role that required no thought."

"The twelve district banks and their buildings survive as branch operations. Their mechanical tasks, notably the clearing of cheques, the routine movement of currency and the management of government financial transactions, are useful and vast. But the myth of the autonomy and importance also survives. A pamphlet published in 1971 by the Federal Reserve bank of Richmond, Virginia... shows the Board of Directors... deliberating... However... the text concedes the truth. The directors... do not establish dividends, control investment policy, supervise operations... (Nor... do they appoint officers or fix salaries.). They do establish, subject to the approval of the Board of Governors, the discount rates the Reserve Bank charges on loans to member banks. This is... the rediscount rate too is exclusively the domain of central authority. ...[O]nly one [function] remains that is categorical. The Directors... provide System officials with... "grass roots" information on business conditions. ...The textbooks, without exception, cooperate to sustain the regional myth. ...Perhaps there is something to be said for perpetuating legend, enhancing local pride... But truth and reality have their claims and these are that Aldrich's concession to the countryside was unworkable and has been undone these forty years."

"In ancient in the earliest times barley was the medium of exchange for most transactions. ...grain continued throughout these centuries to be the standard of payment and repayment. However, even before 3000 B.C., ingots of copper and silver were also exchanged. There were two standards of value: grain and silver. Silver was used mainly in the town economies... while grain was used in the country. There was no coined money until the first millenium B.C.; payments in metal were by weight."

"Many documents dealing with property and credit have come down to us from the Sumerian period. ...Many of the financial customs of the early Sumerian period were codified and perpetuated in the Babylonian ..."

"The temples not only owned great wealth but were active in finance. They granted loans of silver and loans of grain. Sometimes they made loans to the poor without interest and at other times they made loans at interest. Often they charged rates below the legal maximum: sometimes one half or one third... The Temple of at would lend money to slaves to enable them to purchase freedom. At Sippon, the Sun God, acting through priests and priestesses, was the chief banker. The temples were also seats of justice and depositories of documents and valuables. Such banking operations, including deposits, transfers, and loans, date back to the third millenium B.C., but did not lead to the creation of specialized professional banking firms until the n and Neo-Babylonian period."

"In the period 500-200 B.C. it was the custom in to designate the ownership of real estate by marking stones called "horoi," which meant limit or boundary. ...Certain of these gave notice that the property is encumbered, and a few say how, for how much due to whom, and on what terms. ...At about 450 B.C. the deme instructed its temple officials to obtain real security for all its loans and to place horoi on the encumbered property. ...The state itself was never mentioned in the horoi; public lending or borrowing was unusual. Groups of individuals, comprising lending clubs, often made... secured loans to friends, sometimes without interest. The horoi often refer to loan contracts on deposit with bankers or in temples."

"Loans to states were... exceptional until the third or second century B.C. ...The famous loans to the city of Athens during the fifth century B.C. were a religious fiction: the money was the war reserve of the people of Athens. Interest on these loans was nominal and was rarely paid. but an effort was made to return the principal to the Temple, that is to say, to restore the war reserve."

"The credit of most Greek states was in fact very poor. ...Often Greek states wishing to borrow had to offer the guarantee of individual citizens in good standing, who were called "foreloaners" or "underwriters." In 377-373 B.C., thirteen states borrowed from the Temple of , and only two proved completely faithful; in all, four fifths of the money was never repaid. Thereafter the temple preferred loans to individuals, secured by land."

"Clearly, we had an amazing start to the year because Oracle has become the go-to place for AI workloads"

"We have signed significant cloud contracts with the who's who of AI, including OpenAI, xAI, Meta, Nvidia, AMD, and many others"

"You want to make a transition like this when things are great"

"Today, Oracle is recognized as the cloud of choice for both AI training and inferencing. I'm very proud of that"

"Oracle's technology and business have never been stronger. And our breathtaking growth rate points to an even more prosperous future. At this time of strength is the right moment to pass the CEO role to the next generation of capable executives. Congratulations Clay and Mike"

"Transforming yourself and modernizing yourself — that’s not a destination, it’s a constant journey"

"In fact, anytime you stop, your competitors are going to pass you"

"And one of the reasons that businesses succeed is when they’re adaptable and when they’re absorbing those new technologies. But those that sort of stick with what they have? They get passed over"

"And by the way, this is true not only in companies — whole civilizations survive or disappear because of whether they’re adaptable to new conditions and new capabilities, and those that really take advantage of them are going to prosper"

"And today we’re seeing that. We’re seeing this incredible prosperity and improvement in productivity, in capability, in really meeting customer expectations and exceeding them. And that’s what we’re pushing forward with"

"Anyone who goes to the hospital or a doctor, you see that — as great as our physicians are and our nurses are and the equipment, it’s all amazing — there are still a lot of doctors typing into things and spending a lot of their time doing that instead of spending the time with the patient"

"But now we can offer a complete system that just listens to that entire interaction and records it and transcribes it and gives recommendations to the physicians — what an incredible time saver! Instead of having doctors spend time putting data into the system, you actually have the system help the physicians figure out what’s best for you"

"Think about it: in the shopping world, we’ve been in the 21st century for a long time–they’re always recommending that next thing you should buy. But in healthcare? Nope! It’s still stuck in typing all the data into the system like the old days"

"And that has been a real passion for the whole company, and we’ve put a lot of energy into it and I think a lot of our employees are very excited about being part of it because as much as we love to make shopping more efficient, or running a giant utility more efficient — and all of that is very important, just like helping a bank be better and more efficient — but when you’re in healthcare, you’re actually saving lives"

"The reality is that industrial companies and governments and other types of large organizations are all realizing that they cannot waste resources. They have to use all of their resources to drive a better customer experience, better employee experience, and better supplier experience"

"Many of them learned that lesson during COVID,” Catz said, “but were afraid, to some extent, to move all the way in. So they started in one place, and now they’ve built that confidence and they’re going to go all the way"

"More and more of our customers are not only moving into the infrastructure cloud, not only the database cloud, not even only the applications cloud, but even the vertical applications cloud"

"People are saying, ‘I have to get in there or I’m going to be left out!’ And so yes, they’re being bold, and they’re watching others be bold, and that is really encouraging them"

"My best decision was to choose to go to Wall Street over law. I learned a lot and focused on the expanding software industry at a time when the independent software industry was just beginning. That ultimately brought me to Oracle"

"I come from Wall Street, and you’ll never see me do a PowerPoint because I’m all about Excel spreadsheets…If it’s not in the numbers, I don’t care how strategic it is, it doesn’t play out"

"“I encourage you to also think very, very carefully when you’re making an investment decision that in fact that decision is really a need you’re filling that you believe in. Don’t just go with everybody else. Don’t just watch a PowerPoint like a dog watching television. Make sure it makes sense…The focus needs to be where you can add competitive value to your customer and have competitive advantage"

"Unfortunately there’s no easy way to get there…Of course, time is money. But that’s the way to go – hard work, focus, and specialization, and then no one can catch you"

"There’s an expectation that when you become a senior executive that you got there in part because you’re really listening. It’s very, very important to listen to your customers. They’re it. They’re doing you a favor by telling you what they think and you can’t get to this position without listening to the issues and engaging in creative problem solving, because that’s what this is really about"

"Sometimes you have to take some blame for something that’s happened in the past and say, I was wrong. That was a mistake. And maybe it’s not you, but it’s your company, which means you’re responsible. I’ll say, Okay, if that’s what we did, I’m sorry about that. Let me see how to make that right"

"The most significant barrier to female leadership is the actual lack of females in leadership. The best advice I can give to women is to go out and start something, ideally their own businesses. If you can’t see a path for leadership within your own company, go blaze a trail of your own"

"The biggest challenge for the next generation of women is to turn these generational expectations on their ear. Hopefully in the future generational challenges will be measured by achievement, not gender"

"The most important thing is to understand the goals and issues of the customers and work through them. Often hard work can solve most problems as well as some real willingness to try"

"There is some crazy pressure on women, and on men, to almost be superwoman or superman, and that's just not realistic"

"The advice to everyone is, you can have it all, but don't expect to have it at exactly the same time"

"Your career is going to be measured in decades, and you'll probably have many careers in your life, so make sure that you really enjoy each period of your life and make the most of it"

"Don't try and achieve everything at the same time and put so much pressure on yourself"

"That was a game-changing piece of advice for me, because then I started doing completely different jobs and ones that weren't necessarily logical to most people's thinking"

"That philosophy very much guided me to start thinking what are the things that would equip me better for a more senior role further down the path"

"If we didn't put our people's health and safety first ... I think we would have done a very poor job managing the bank"

"We've been in the midsts of a health crisis, and if we didn't put our people's health and safety first and understand what's going on in their lives, honestly, I think we would have done a very poor job managing the bank through the crisis"

"Our employees have then rewarded us incredibly because, secure in that and knowing that they were going to be okay, then meant that they would focus on our clients and look after them too"

"We will invest in our infrastructure, risk management and controls to ensure that we operate in a safe and sound manner and serve our clients and customers with excellence"

"I knew it was going to be multiple years and I knew I had to get a move on: to be bold around it and take tough decisions that hadn’t been made before, and to make investments that were going to be hard for the bottom line for a couple of years but would then bear fruit"

"Having experience of different parts of the bank gives you a lot of courage and conviction, to get clarity quickly about what needs to be done and stick to the plan, even if it’s difficult"

"Our folk here are not shy about telling you what you need to do when you ask them"

"We are not done and we’ve still got a way to go. There is no victory being declared, but there is very clear, demonstrable progress"

"There was a lot of pride in some of these retail businesses and it has been hard to let go of them from a cultural point of view"

"We’ve taken some pretty tough talent calls, says Fraser. If someone was a strong performer, but their job had gone away in the reorg, we would put them into a job that someone else had"

"We are using the strength of our global platform, and what we do in Services and other areas, to propel the relationship into the boardroom"

"That’s expensive and thankless work until it’s done, and then it’s joyful"

"If you move from 20 different ways of doing something to one, that reduces the risk of something going wrong enormously. Then you make sure that the process around that makes sense, end to end: making sure it isn’t convoluted and complex. You put in all your controls, both preventive, and detective. You try and make as many of them automated as possible, and then you test them constantly to make sure they’re working. That is the deeply unsexy but very important work we have been doing"

"There are a lot more things coming off the to-do list than getting added to it. We can see it delivering better outcomes and starting to improve efficiency. There’s been a huge lift done, but now we’re in the phase when you’re starting to get things closed"

"That is exactly what power means to me - getting things done"

"When I get whatever I've set my heart on - whether it is a mandate we must win or a person I wish to hire"

"Win. Win. Win. I have a huge passion to win. I feel we tend to make excuses because we haven’t set our mind to win. Whatever it is that you do in life, you need to be in the top three"

"I am a people person. So whenever I engage, whether it’s a client or my own team, for me it’s not just about the work or task at hand. It is about knowing the person and what drives him"

"The disinvestment boom is not on her front burner. I have a clear focus on the bottom line"