The single most important commodity traded in the City of London is confidence. The public, bankers and the markets need to believe that the UK will continue to be a global financial centre. They must have trust in the quality, ethics and skills of its bankers. And they must believe in the wisdom and careful regulation of its government. Without confidence, it will be impossible to achieve the “twin challenges of engineering a recovery and reforming the financial system” envisaged by Sir Mervyn King, Bank of England governor.

Political interference in banking, as demonstrated by the ham-fisted removal of Stephen Hester as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland with no clear succession plan in place, is hugely destabilising. It seems motivated more by politics than knowledge of the way that business and finance work. Politics is also the reason for the lack of a clear path from ministers for the future of the industry.

This is worrying, to put it mildly. It has been five years since the financial crisis yet plans to restructure the industry – from the separation of retail from investment banking to reviews of capital requirements for leading institutions – remain in flux. Recent revelations of capital inadequacy at our largest banks should have been made years ago, as was the case in the US.