The quarter-century leading up to the financial crisis saw a remarkable leap in globalisation. Cross-border bank lending, much of it intermediated in London, grew rapidly. Citibank’s ambition was to be seen on street corners from Manhattan to Manama; HSBC told us, every time we got off an aircraft, that it was “the world’s local bank”.

Since the crisis this trend has gone into reverse: cross-border lending has fallen sharply and the ambitions of American and European banks have been scaled back. Are we entering an age of financial “deglobalisation”? If so, should we care?

Some of the retrenchment was inevitable. Banks had become overextended. But there are signs that the withdrawal may be traced to regulatory actions, and to a form of financial protectionism, which could be as dangerous as protectionism in trade.