Splitting the Goldman Sachs Difference

Citi has been under fire in part because of its soft revenue growth and partly because of its mushrooming expenses. Citi last week set plans to cut 17,000 jobs to bring those numbers down.

By contrast, no one has any problems with how Goldman runs its businesses. And no one is seriously calling for a Goldman breakup, because the firm runs swimmingly and succeeds in cross-selling its various businesses.

Still, coming to grips with what Wall Street wants is a problem vexing many CEOs these days -- and one that LBO shops are more than happy to try and solve.

Diversified banks "have got to start thinking out of the box if they want to get those multiples up," Bove tells TheStreet.com. "If you're management, it's fine because you're getting paid $30 million a year -- but that's not so good for the shareholders."