It must feel like being in Dante’s Inferno, I suggested to the head of one investment bank in the City last week. Deep in the eighth circle of Hell along with the panderers, false prophets and other fraudsters.

No, he said, bringing the conversation back down to earth. Running a bank these days is more like being a contestant in Total Wipeout. "Every time you think you're getting somewhere you are thumped back into the water by a giant mechanical boxing glove."