This is not surprising. A year ago, British policymakers were still arguing about whether or not to nationalise Northern Rock, the failed mortgage lender. Twelve months on, Britain has a controlling stake in Royal Bank of Scotland while Citigroup, once the world's largest bank, is operating with the support of the US government. Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, two of Wall Street's oldest names, have disappeared while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have become commercial banks.

Few reputations have emerged unscathed as the crisis has ripped through the financial system. A year ago, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse appeared to have avoided the worst damage from the meltdown in the US subprime mortgage market. Both banks have just reported heavy losses for the fourth quarter.

In relative terms, there are some winners. HSBC's share price has lost just 11 per cent of its value this year – a solid performance when rivals such as Citigroup and RBS are down 73 per cent and 82 per cent, respectively. Wells Fargo is the pick of the large US banks with an 11 per cent share price decline.