Malcolm Turnbull has been the most high-profile investment banker in Australia for more than a decade. After making his reputation as a lawyer when he successfully challenged British government efforts to stop the publication of former MI5 agent Peter Wright's memoirs, Turnbull was funded by the likes of Kerry Packer to form his own investment bank, and then went on to head Goldman Sachs in Australia.

These days, Turnbull is best known for championing the cause of Australian republicanism and for his growing role in Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal Party, of which he is treasurer. Some say a high-level political career awaits the 47-year-old who clearly has no pressing need to work again for money if he doesn't feel like it. Turnbull's glittering career, however, is - by his own admission - being tarnished by the Royal Commission into last year's A$5.3bn (&euro3.2bn) collapse of Australian insurer HIH last March.