The big banks I’ve worked with have better security than the US govt does. That said, its very difficult to get every vulnerability in every system.
American banks generally take security far more seriously than banks elsewhere.
OK I read the McAfee pdf on the attack. The banks weren’t compromised (thank God, other wise I’d never get any sleep at night). They did a standard spear phishing attack on the customers side, rootkitted them and then did a man in the middle attack on the smart card for the European customers and various attack methods on the US customers. Not anything blazingly new just very automated and sophisticated I am impressed.
As far as your comment on the US government versus the banks I can believe that for most of the US government but there are some parts that are very much ahead of the banking system. That said most of the government is doing a much better job than they used to and certainly much better than the private sector. There is a world of difference between the security at my work place and at my customers site (which is part of the US government).