Major bank executives are appearing before Barney Frank’s House Financial Services Committee this morning. Major messages: We are lending more; we won’t be foolish with TARP money. Bonus points if you can say you didn’t get a bonus last year. Morgan Stanley’s John Mack gets double extra credit for not taking a bonus in 2007 either.

It’ll be interesting to see if anyone challenges the committee members today. CEOs typically have a healthy sense of their own worth – and so do Members of Congress. I’d like to see a few sparks fly.

It never looks good for industry execs to be lined up in a murderers’ row before Congress. Remember the car CEOs a few months ago? Regardless of whether or not you’re guilty of anything, the public perception of having to testify before Congress is negative – you look like you’re being called on the carpet.

Embattled execs should be doing more to help the public understand what’s happening to their banks and to the financial system. They ought to be getting out of New York more frequently, getting into communities and pressing the case for why their institutions are critical to life beyond Wall Street. They ought to acknowledge their recent failings, take a few lashes, and commit to rectifying their flawed practices. (See former TimeWarner exec Jerry Levin address this point on CNBC last month.)

Otherwise all the public will see when they think of a bank CEO is someone getting chased by TV cameras or grilled by Congress.