For three years, colleagues joked that Charlie Burrows could often be found in the gym at Goldman Sachs’ London office. Then, in the second half of last year, the jokes stopped. The former HSBC analyst, who joined Goldman Sachs in 2002, suddenly found himself in demand.

Burrows, who turns 50 next month, has a role that is seemingly unique at Europe's bulge-bracket banks: the equity research analyst who specialises in initial public offerings.