Bernanke says Citigroup, Bank of America will survive

Their stock prices are anemic, and investor confidence in the sector is at its lowest point since perhaps the 1930s, but the nation's top banker provided the strongest hint yet that a rejuvenated banking system will not exclude the nation's two largest banks, Citigroup and Bank of America.

While being careful not to reveal any specific, potential future actions, or the financial form they could take, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, testifying Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, in an exchange with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, the committee's ranking member, dispelled any notions that the Fed believes Citigroup and the Bank of America are, in Shelby's words, "mummies."

Sen. Shelby: Aren't these banks dead?