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The appeals court ruling is likely to perpetuate the perverse situation in which banks view SEC legal settlements as a cost of doing business rather than a deterrent for fraud.

Some banks must know where the missing customer funds are. Otherwise why would they be confident enough to bid as much as 90% of face value for customer claims?

For years, Litton Loan Servicing was open to making a deal with delinquent borrowers. Then Goldman took over.

For young businesses to succeed, they first need business management tools, networks and coaching. Only after they have these things are they ready to take out loans.

Last year, for the first time in anyone's recollection, there were no new bank charters approved, with the exception of three specifically blessed to acquire failed banks.

Congress should repeal Sarbanes-Oxley to increase the flow of equity capital to micro- and small-cap public companies. Lawmakers also must increase the allotment for the SBA 7(a) program and guarantee it exists for the next three years.

The Fed's assessment of the 19 bank-holding companies' vulnerability to an economic stress event underscores one of the major challenges in conducting "what-if" types of scenario analysis; namely that it seems to be fighting the last war.

The recent $25 billion settlement by 49 attorneys general and the Obama Administration against the five largest mortgage servicers for deficiencies in their foreclosure practices is emblematic of misdirected energy and bad public policy. Like the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the settlement is living proof that the judgment of politicians can be clouded by fixes that sound good, but miss the target. State and federal governments' need/desire to punish financial services companies is actually constricting lending and impeding the economic recovery.

Explore the negative impact of the Durbin Amendment on small businesses, including increased fees and reduced banking services, contrary to claims of negligible effects.

The go-go years of financial services growth are over. Today the focus is on capital adequacy, strict underwriting standards and conservative investing. The panicked days of September 2008 that spawned the Dodd-Frank Act mean the days of light-touch regulation also are gone.