“It’s a very exciting time to be a transaction banker,” says John Gibbons, quite sincerely.

Gibbons is Deutsche Bank’s head of global transaction banking, a unit that helps clients with activities such as cash management and trade finance - work that has rarely set bankers’ pulses racing. But transaction banking is making strides into new technology, which has brought fresh energy to the field. Not to mention that, in the post-crisis era, many banks are finding that activities with solid, reliable returns - and less of the kind of risk that gives regulators heart palpitations - are exactly what is needed.