Putting surveillance systems on trading floors to curb market abuse after the financial crisis may have been a necessity, but as institutions sweated to get it done on time, some may have harboured uncharitable thoughts towards the regulators that had imposed demanding deadlines. Perhaps, they are more grateful now.

The US Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, gave swaps traders - and anyone outside the US who did business with them - until November 2012 to start monitoring trades and storing the resulting data. Many institutions were glad of an extension of the deadline to March 2013, and just happy they managed to meet it.