Jeremy Isaacs was last in the FN100 list in 2008, when he was chief executive of Lehman Brothers for Europe and Asia, credited with turning the US bank's European operations into a formidable force since taking over the London office in 1999.

According to the entry at the time, Isaacs had "shrugged off short-sellers of the bank's stock and rumours of funding problems following the collapse of Bear Stearns with unflappable management."