Major U.S. banks faced a slew of troubles in 2013 — from multi-billion-dollar legal fees to weak returns on equity — but the outlook is brighter for 2014, says Financial Times banking editor Tom Braithwaite.

"Big U.S. banks have got a lot of reasons to be cheerful about 2014," he writes. Rising interest rates are one of them, he says.

While rising rates put a dent in mortgage issuance, they also will lift the net interest margins between what the rates banks pay depositors for funds and the rates at which the banks lend.

Editor’s Note: See Sean Hyman Explain His Biblical Money Code for Investing

It's particularly helpful for banks that interest rates are rising as a result of the economy strengthening.

"As the recovery strengthens, two developments that have been notable by their absence in the post-crisis period should finally show up: loan growth and an increasing volume of corporate acquisitions, which bring with them advisory and financing fees," Braithwaite writes.

Banks also are enjoying an increase in their stock prices. The KBW Bank Index gained 33.4 percent in 2013. So bankers who have been paid in shares of their own companies are sitting pretty.

Meanwhile, bank analyst Dick Bove of Rafferty Capital Markets argues that the government has made itself an enemy of banks.

"The government is hampering the activities of the most successful banking companies in the United States and facilitating growth of financial companies in the non-regulated part of the system," he writes in a commentary for CNBC.

"The government is driving the system to rely on its least stable companies. It is driving risk through the system."

Editor’s Note: See Sean Hyman Explain His Biblical Money Code for Investing

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