Business models in banking: is there a best practice?

The last two years have stressed how special and important banks are. When the financial system fails, the whole economic system is affected. The financial sector has undergone an unprecedented wave of innovation, change, consolidation and now crisis. We now have a better understanding of the business models that may not be sustainable, but there are still many open questions. Will future capital requirements provide banks with better loss bearing capabilities and the economic system with less procyclicality? How can future compensation and corporate governance principles support the long term value creation of banks? How can risk management practises and risk pricing models better represent possible gains and losses? There seems to be no simple answer.