Diminutive expense accounts. Flying coach. The lingering threat of layoffs. That seems to be the new normal in banking these days. And it’s unlikely to change in 2010, CNNMoney.com said.

Faced with a flurry of new regulations out of Washington and sluggish loan activity that’s hurting revenue, lenders are expected to have little choice but to continue tightening their belts next year.

“I think that focus is already starting,” said Blake Howells, director of equity research for Becker Capital Management, an investment firm with about $2 billion in assets.

In some instances, budget cuts could be downright severe.

SunTrust Banks Inc., for example, is expected to cut its operating expenses, including staffing and advertising, by $1.15 billion next year, or 17 percent, based on estimates by research firm SNL Financial.

Citigroup Inc., which has already managed to find nearly $20 billion in savings over the past year partly through the sale of some of its businesses, is expected to trim almost another $5 billion from its budget by the end of next year, according to SNL.

Such cutbacks, of course, are hardly a surprise given the turmoil banks have endured during the past year, namely the billions of dollars lost to bad loans.

What’s even more troubling, according to banking experts, is that banks now face a whole new set of fees and rules next year that pose a big threat to their bottom line.

One of the biggest problems is the $45 billion in insurance premiums that banks had to pay to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. this year, to help prop up the dwindling fund used to cover bank failures. Banks will have to account for a third of that money in fiscal 2010.

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