Financial News arrived at the London headquarters of the European Banking Authority to find the building cordoned off and surrounded by flashing blue lights. A bomb scare at the City’s Tower 42 had caused the evacuation of more than 1,000 office workers, who crowded on to the street.

It was more than an hour before employees were allowed back inside and the EBA's new executive director Adam Farkas finally appeared in the doorway to his small office on the 18th floor.