LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Many in the financial world are taking that as a most unusual statement for Weill, who previously pushed the government to overturn the Glass-Steagall law requiring deposit-taking institutions to separate from risky investment banks, which was put in place after the 1929 stock market crash.

"Have banks do something that's not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that's not going to be too big to fail," Weill told CNBC.

Weill also called for a "creative" banking system that can "attract the best and brightest" talent.

"I want to see the United States be leader," Weill said. "I really believe in our country, and we are not going to be a leader if we continue to trash our institutions."

Weill said he arrived at his viewpoint after seeing the public, regulators and politicians turn against the banking industry. The world hates bankers right now, Weill said.

"There is such a feeling among people, among regulators, among the political system all over the world against the banking system, and I don't think that is going to change so soon," Weill said.

Former chair of the FDIC Sheila Bair says that Weill's reason for breaking up the banks is not the correct approach to the problem.

"Banks are unpopular now because they've done a lot of dumb things," she told CNBC. According to Bair, there's a perception that banks are managed for short-term profit and don't care about long-term customer relations.

"We had to bail out these financial institutions," Bair continued. "Not all of them, but Citigroup is top of the list."

Many are taking Weill's comments with a grain of salt. After all, Citigroup became one of the nation's problems during the financial crisis, a poster-child for "too big to fail" with the government spending $45 billion trying to keep it afloat.

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