It is the curse of every age to be laughed at by those that come after it. Today’s cutting-edge technology inevitably becomes tomorrow’s rusty relic. Our children and our children’s children will marvel at our inability to understand the Higgs Boson, our tardiness in reaching Mars and our insistence on pricing financial transactions off a benchmark set by organisations with a vested interest in that price.

But the pace of innovation is rarely constant. At times it accelerates and those labouring under current orthodoxies get the chance to start comprehending what future generations will consider antediluvian. The financial industry is experiencing just such a moment - established business models, practices and beliefs are jading before our eyes.