If banks provide the fuel for modern economies, then corporates are its engines. Without them, we would earn and consume nothing, trade would evaporate, savings would be wiped out, banks would fail and tax receipts would plunge.

Care then is needed when drafting rules and protocols to ensure they do not drive corporates off the road. And in these most sensitive times for corporates, particular care should be taken. This makes it all the more surprising that the latest proposals from the US administration - to clear all standardised derivatives - rides roughshod over corporate interests. The corporate sector is rightly incensed.