Duller, leaner, meaner. Not a new Olympic motto, but the likely shape of banks by 2012 as lenders meet the economic storm by shrinking balance sheets, cutting risks and going back to basics.
Banks in Europe and elsewhere will look far different in two or three years when they emerge from what many economists and bankers are predicting will be the worst economic downturn for 80 years.
Many banks will be happy to just survive. Others, like HSBC and Santander, expect to widen their advantage over rivals. All will have to adapt to a much changed landscape, some radically.
"All banks that have been focusing on expanding their wholesale banking balance sheets will have to do the reverse and shrink those substantially," said Arturo De Frias, analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort.
Wall Street's top investment banks have collapsed or transformed into commercial banks, and European peers are in turn retreating from trouble spots by cutting gambling with their own money and pulling back from the complex products that got them into trouble.
A massive deleveraging is underway and may take several years, and result in a big tilt back towards stable retail banking operations.
"Banks will have to focus on their core competencies and what they really do well and stop trying to make money out of everything, everywhere," Mr De Frias said.
Banks most in need of deleveraging include Deutsche Bank, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, analysts said.
"You'd expect to see smaller balance sheets, smaller investment banks and a higher proportion of deposits on balance sheets," said Simon Maughan, analyst at MF Global.
Accordingly, banks are cutting thousands of jobs, stripping costs, mulling asset sales, restraining lending and trying to lure retail savers.
Deutsche Bank told staff last week it will overhaul strategy and move costs and assets away from businesses unlikely to recover in the near term.
RBS is set for an even more radical change. A government bailout has given its new CEO time to overhaul the bank. He plans a dramatic investment banking scaleback and has said there are no sacred cows anywhere, which could see its US bank sold.
His plan to return to core retail banking, risk management, financing and transaction services - turning back the clock six or seven years - is likely to be mirrored elsewhere.
The scale of deleveraging may not be as quick as some banks hope, however, slowed by depressed valuations, a lack of buyers and government pressure to maintain 'real economy' lending to homeowners and small businesses to keep the economy turning.
How influential governments are as owners or part-owners of banks in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere is unclear, and may depend on how severe the downturn is.
Big plans to restructure and sell assets could be overwhelmed by a wave of takeover activity, some experts reckon.
Ralph Silva, research director for research and advisory firm Tower Group, predicted one-third of Europe's banks will disappear in the next three years amid "rampant consolidation".
"In Europe, we'll see about 10 or maybe 15 banks managing about 80 per cent of the business," Mr Silva predicted.
"Those banks will be far less dependent on capital markets for funding as they will have massive deposit bases," he said.
Less reliance on wholesale markets will be a feature whether there is M and A or not, as securitisation markets remain closed.
The 'funding gap' - the shortfall of customer deposits to loans - at UK banks alone soared to 740 billion pounds this year. To return to the 2003 level of about 265 billion it needs to be shrunk by almost two-thirds, which would require a significant slowdown in lending.
The aim of banks is to put themselves on a good footing for when markets recover.
Most banks are facing an awful 2009. Earnings will plunge as bad debts rise and revenues fall. The pain will be sharper for investors diluted by over 200 billion euros of capital raising in the last 14 months, and more capital will probably be needed.
But an overdue deleveraging, increased efficiency, bonus structures more aligned to long-term growth, tighter regulation and wider retail margins could provide a platform for better times from 2011.
Earnings have jumped in recent years, but valuations have derated as investors viewed the quality of earnings as poorer. "Higher quality earnings should provide the basis for a re-rating," Leigh Goodwin, analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton, said in a recent note on UK banks.
Low visibility on earnings and balance sheets have left investors wary of most valuation metrics. Europe's banks are on average trading near 0.7 times book value, well below historical premiums. But the range is wide, with HSBC near 1.1 times book value, and Deutsche Bank, RBS and many others trading at less than half their book value.