Lehman Blame Game Still Played Four Years, $12.8 Trillion Later

Sorrentino says "there are parts of Dodd-Frank that I think are appropriate and there are parts that aren't appropriate for community banks."

Regulators are taking several years to implement rules required by Dodd-Frank, with banks and the public granted comment periods before rules are finalized, and the industry's feedback to the regulators is part of the process.

"We can't just label something as bad and say that the legislation is good," says Sorrentino. "That is not how the world works. We have a very complex banking system in this country, and there is a direct correlation in that we have one of the best economies in the world."

"Our financial system, if you do the math, is a good system," Sorrentino says, "but there are lots of different kinds of banks in our system, and you can't just write one rule to apply to all of them. You can't just paint with a broad brush and say that banks are bad. It is somewhat childish."

Regarding the financial crisis blame game, Sorrentino says "I agree that everyone has some culpability in what happened in 2007, including the borrower."

-- Written by Philip van Doorn in Jupiter, Fla.

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Philip W. van Doorn is a member of TheStreet's banking and finance team, commenting on industry and regulatory trends. He previously served as the senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings, responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. Mr. van Doorn previously served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Fla., and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Long Island University.

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