Managing banks in the good times was deceptively easy, particularly given the revenues generated by fixed income sales and trading in the heyday of the investment banks, or raked in through profitable retail banking in a higher interest rate environment. Fixed income revenues propelled many traders into senior roles across the banking industry and few questioned it.

Managing teams and recalibrating strategy in the current, more challenging environment, and ensuring compliance with rafts of new rules is proving more difficult and financial services firms are having to take a closer look at how managers are selected and trained.