The joke already has a beard, but it still applies: the long-term success of a bank depends on the loans that it has renounced.
This means that the institutes must keep an eye on their risks.
If the bank supervisors at the European Central Bank (ECB) have their way, that must be doubted.
Because the supervisors are again complaining about the deficits in risk management at the 110 banks they directly supervise.
Before the almost inevitable recession, that's almost bad news.
Although the supervisors rightly point to the increasing risk of default, rattling is also part of their craft.
It is right to demand more caution from the banks and thus more provisions for loan defaults, but a new financial crisis like the one that followed the Lehman collapse in September 2008 is not to be expected.
The banks are currently armed with their equity buffers for a recession.
After years of extremely low interest rates, however, the financial market has become careless in dealing with risks due to the hunt for returns, and this now needs to be combated.
The bank supervisors of the ECB also contribute to this problem, regularly criticizing the weak earning power and thus putting the banks under pressure.
Now the focus must be on resilience.
When the tide goes out, you can see who went swimming without swimming trunks.