Imagine the scene. It's late 2013. You’re a chief executive of a clearing house and a bunch of global counterparties suddenly go bust. Suddenly it’s Lehman Brothers all over again, only you’re stuck in the middle. What do you do?

You may decide to panic. After all, the post-crisis era of financial regulation has put clearing houses at the centre of the swaps market in order to prevent the risk management failures that brought institutions like AIG and Lehman Brothers to their knees.