It's interesting to note the discussion of Napoleon as something of a mixed bag, and of whether or not the source is important to a quotation. My sentiment is that it takes one to know one, and if you want to hear the opinion of someone who seeks power as to the role banks play in power brokering, you would have a hard time finding a better authority than Napoleon.

Napoleon was a nationalist. That was his sin, and the sin of many that have followed from his own time to the present day. Nationalism is by and large a bad thing. It's only good is that it is a broader and more inclusive definition of "us" than many that came before. But for bankers, there is no "us". Theirs is the least inclusive philosophy of them all.

That, to my mind, is the issue that this quote addresses so well, and that makes it appropriate to take the insight of Napoleon at face value on this specific topic if perhaps not on a variety of others.