Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC, Vince Cable of the UK's Liberal Democratic party and FT columnist Gillian Tett – just three of the many pundits who have felt driven to chart and explain the financial crisis of the past two years in books published recently.

It is tempting to suggest these efforts mark the end of an era. The crisis is over and another chapter is beginning, with governments and regulators lining up on a global basis to set new, more cautious parameters for the financial services industry, and institutions sufficiently humbled to accept a new era of restraint. But is this the correct reading? Has the worst economic meltdown since the second world war really changed the banking industry for good? Or have we pressed the pause button briefly before allowing everyone to resume business as usual?

The evidence, so far, is mixed. Wrong as it might feel, the performance of many financial services groups has rarely looked better. Only months after the finest names of Wall Street and the City of London were begging for government hand-outs, business is booming again. The big investment banks achieved record profits in the first half of the year on the back of a surge of bond and equity issuance and high trading volumes across the board.