Citigroup (C) (BAC) (GS) ( MS) (JPM) in 2012

The banking industry would like to put the last several years behind them, as Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) (-47 percent), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (-60 percent), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) (-45 percent) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) (-30 percent) plunged again in 2011.

Overall, the story for bankers is trust, as there is simply no way to really no how deep the problems of companies are, as even they, in some cases, aren't sure on how deep the consequences of the risk they face could get.

That leaves tremendous uncertainty from investors, who, depending on the specific risks faced by individual banks are, such as mortgages, litigation, the global economy, derivatives and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, among others, leaves the inability to assess the banks in order to get a picture of what the future may reasonably hold.

Until that becomes clearer, the banking sector will remain under pressure.