When HSBC decided to sell its Canary Wharf headquarters in May last year for £1.09bn (€1.03bn), it knew it had done a good deal. It was clearly the peak of the property market and it achieved a record price for a single asset. But even the UK bank would not have realised that it would find itself in the bizarre position of buying the asset back in 18 months time at a 20% discount.

But that is looking increasingly likely. This morning, Metrovacesa, the Spanish acquirer of the 1.1m sq ft tower, said that it had effectively offered to hand the keys of the building back to HSBC for a price of £838m after failing to refinance the £810m short-term loan provided by HSBC.