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While the financial system has experienced a historic crisis, questions about the role of banks are rising among the public and commentators. Although Minsky was one of the few authors who studied the link between banks, risk, and crisis, his approach seems incomplete for explaining the entire set of phenomena actually at work. This paper reviews bank history to show how the link between the banker and risk is specific, including the notion of risk itself, and how the recent changes in the banking profession have caused major destabilization.