Mergers and acquisitions bankers focusing on the financial sector have experienced an unfamiliar sensation this year. In the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, problems in the banking sector meant they were in hot demand. The current wave of the crisis however, has been a different story.

Unlike some of their peers advising industries prone to anaemic growth, they might have expected their area of specialism to rebound: sovereign debt woes and forthcoming international agreements on regulation are likely to force governments into banking reform.