“If it grows like a weed, it probably is one” (financial proverb)

“If it grows like a weed, it probably is one” is a gardening proverb, but it’s also a financial proverb. If there is a large growth of financial activity in one area, it’s probably a “weed”—a fad or a scam.
     
“Investors have begun to see truth in an old Wall Street adage: If it grows like a weed, it’s a weed” was cited in print in 2009. “As bankers say, ‘If it grows like a weed, it probably is one’” was written by Mark Zandi, an American economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com, in 2012.
 
   
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
An untimely growth spurt
DEREK DECLOET AND SHIRLEY WON
Published Saturday, Jan. 24 2009, 12:00 AM EST
Last updated Friday, Apr. 10 2009, 7:50 AM EDT
(...)
The global financial crisis, and the demise of fast-growing financial companies like Countrywide Financial Corp., have cast a cloud over any lender that grew rapidly during the era of easy credit. Investors have begun to see truth in an old Wall Street adage: If it grows like a weed, it’s a weed. They’ve also lost faith that regulators were watching closely enough to stop financial institutions from doing dumb things.
 
IT Transformation
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Assessing Your Organization’s View of Technology
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Yes, this new technology will solve many issues, but we can save money by hanging on to we have for a little longer, or my favorite, overhead from a particularly out-of-touch CEO in the midst of the dot-com explosion of the late nineties: “Nah, if it grows like a weed, it must be a weed. This Internet thing is nothing but a fad!”
   
Zero Hedge
CLSA’s Mike Mayo Discusses A Financial Industry On Steroids, Lays Out The 10 Main Problems With Banks
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2010 16:39 -0400
Mike Mayo lays out the ten main problems with the financial industry:
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Three – side effects ignored with concentration of assets: The rush in real estate was no secret. Of the 11 loan categories listed by the FDIC, all five of the fastest growing loan categories were real estate related. This is as simple as the old banking adage, “if it grows like a weed, maybe it is a weed” or, perhaps more generally, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.
   
MarketWatch
Banks stocks still exiled from Mike Mayo’s buy list, mostly
November 9, 2011, 11:02 AM ET
Bank-stock analyst Mike Mayo has spent over a decade putting a sell sign on many of the stocks he covers, often to the chagrin or outright ire of his dealmaking colleagues and the bank chiefs that find themselves at the sharp end of his critiques
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For much of the rest? “If it grows like a weed, maybe it is weed.”
– Laura Mandaro
 
Washington (DC) Post
Fannie and Freddie don’t deserve blame for bubble
By Mark Zandi January 24, 2012
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“If it grows like a weed, it probably is a weed.” This age-old banking adage aptly applies to the private mortgage lending business during the housing bubble.
   
Google Books
Paying the Price:
Ending the Great Recession and Ensuring a New American Century
By Mark Zandi
Upper Saddle River, NY: FT Press
2012
Pg. ?:
As bankers say, “If it grows like a weed, it probably is one.” On the other hand, not enough credit chokes hiring, investment, and growth.
 
Twitter
American Banker
‏@AmerBanker
“If it grows like a weed, it’s a weed.” Check out the week’s best quotes, from Mark Zandi to Jamie Dimon. Slideshow: http://bit.ly/17KzriA
12:37 PM - 16 Oct 2013
 
Insurance Times
If it grows like a weed, it is a weed”
5 June 2014 Ima Jackson-Obol
 
Financial Times
Last updated: October 5, 2014 11:51 pm
Wall Street’s siren song lures P2P lenders into treacherous seas
By Jonathan Ford
Hedge funds identify means of investing directly in debt markets
There’s an old saying in the financial services industry that if something grows like a weed, it probably is one.
 
American Banker
(Viewed on website October 6, 2014.—ed.)
‘If It Grows Like a Weed, It’s a Weed’: Week’s Best Quotes
On the recent growth—and increasing underwriting problems—in highly leveraged loans:
“There is a banking adage that if it’s growing like a weed, it’s a good chance that it’s a weed.”
— Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics