Among the respondents, 87% said regulatory hindrances are causing their banks to reexamine their business models in order to recoup lost revenue, while 78% said that regulatory and legislative pressures were the main obstacles facing them as they seek to grow.

The banking business is primed to grow, the survey indicates, with 82% of executives saying they have significant cash on their balance sheets, and 43% projecting that their banks' capital spending will increase. Capital spending was projected to be flat next year by another 43%, with only 23% percent saying spending would decrease.

Asked where spending will increase most in the next year, half the executives identified information technology. Compliance or control was cited by 43%, and new products or services rated by 26% and acquisitions by 23%. And overall, 78% of the banking executives expect IT spending to increase to some degree over the next year, again as a result of regulatory reform.

"IT investment has languished for years," said Carl Carande, national account leader of KPMG LLP's Banking and Finance practice, "but banks are now looking to get leaner and streamline operations, processes and systems by investing in transformational IT projects." He added, "The pent-up demand to complete these projects is the result of various factors such as legacy, inefficient and incompatible IT systems resulting from previous mergers and acquisitions, the need to develop products and services particularly in the mobile space, various cost reduction initiatives, and regulatory compliance efforts.

Executives identified a number of individual initiatives that commands the time of bank management, led by "navigating changes in the regulatory environment," chosen by 32%, and, in fact, scoring twice as high as the second-largest factor, "investing in organic growth." Cost initiatives were identified by 14%. Capital and liquidity requirements related to the Dodd-Frank Act and Basel III were also noted, as were consumer protection and federal supervisory changes.