I've got an idea, how about we use our deposits to make loans to households and businesses?

The American Banker warns that as currently written the "Volcker rule" embedded in the Dodd-Frank bill will eliminate a major source of bank profits.

If the latest version of financial reform becomes law as expected, banks would lose a lucrative but wildly unpredictable source of profits scaling back so-called alternative investments over the next several years.

It's a bad time to curb what banks can invest in private equity and hedge funds in compliance with the Volcker Rule, observers say.

Private investing earnings are rebounding after plummeting last year; banks need every scrap of income in a post-recession regulatory and economic environment toxic to profit growth.

Financial regulation is taking all the fun out of banking, apparently. No more can banks invest in hedge funds, trade in unregulated over-the-counter derivatives markets, gouge their customers with exotic mortgage contracts and hidden credit card fees. Gosh, what else could banks sitting on roughly $1.5 trillion of excess reserves possibly do to increase their profit margins?